Dear all, it has been a privilege to have been asked to step in at Tameside after Phil Davies’ appointment as ACC in Lancashire and I appreciate the hard work that you continue to perform and the welcome I have been given.
It has been a tough time for us recently, with the response to the disorder nationally and I would like to thank everyone across the district for the long hours and hard work over the summer.
As well as managing the busy day to day demand, protests unrest and other demands, you/we all worked together to ensure the public remained safe. The feedback I have received from our communities has been tremendous.
We have recently discussed quality, standards and behaviours as a key feature of our work. We recently had a Child protection inspection visit which demonstrated the value of what quality provision can achieve when considering these serious offences involving children.
Once again, the hard work and professionalism demonstrated during this time was recognised both locally and more widely across the force leadership team.
There are many things that I hope we as an SLT can assist with in making your job easier.
Please continue with your hard work, effort and professional, supportive and empathetic approach to our victims. You are the ones who make Tameside the place that people want to live and work. Thank you.
Chris
Community engagement across Tameside
Neighbourhood policing teams across Tameside have been continuing to build relationships in their communities from making a little boy’s dreams come true to attending the Hurst Festival to round off the summer.
Recruiting the next generation
PC Kincaid and PCSO Grummett attended an incident recently and were surprised to discover they received backup from a local resident.
The young man inspected the police vehicle before borrowing PC Kincaid’s police hat and taking over as the incident supervisor.
A few days later PC Kincaid and PCSO Grummett were able to re-visit their newest recruit for a uniform fitting. With smiles all round, even PCSO Grummett managed to crack a smile this time.
It’s fantastic for officers to be able to inspire the younger generation and meet little supporters within the community – hope it’s one he was able to tell all his friends when he went back after the summer holidays. Anti-social behaviour patrols across Denton and Droylsden Officers have been out and about tackling anti-social behaviour across
local parks, providing high-visibility patrols and supplying literature to local residents advising on how best to report ASB related off-road bikes in the area.
Community residents across Denon specifically around Victoria Park have been particularly thankful with Denton West Home Watch noting “Thanks to the combined efforts by Tameside Council neighbourhood teams, GMP and park users – Denton Victoria Park has seen a 75% reduction in ASB and 100% reduction in criminal damage.” - a fantastic achievement for our officers which in turn help to support our communities feeling safe where they live.
The Hurst Festival Hurst and St Michaels neighbourhood beat officers were warmly invited to attend The Hurst Festival towards the end of August. Despite the weather, it was a fun-filled day for all who attended and a great opportunity for officers to engage with families, the local community and children who asked lots of questions and were interested to know what it was like to be a police officer.
Zombie-style knives and machetes surrender and compensation scheme
From 24 September 2024, tougher laws will come into place around the manufacture, supply, sale, possession and importation of zombie-style knives and machetes.
A month-long surrender scheme, which launched on Monday 26 August 2024, has been in place leading up to the law change, where these types of knives can be handed into police stations across the UK
and compensation may be claimed from the Home Office. The full terms and conditions of this scheme can be found on the Home Office website. Whilst knife amnesty bins are open all year-round at various stations across Greater Manchester - within Tameside, the station on Manchester Road in Ashton-under-Lyne is a designated point for the surrender of zombie knives until 23 September 2024.
Further information can be found via the GMP website https://www. gmp.police.uk/notices/zk/zombiestyle-knives-machetes-surrendercompensation-scheme/
Are you ready for Right Care, Right Person?
Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) is set to go live at GMP on Monday 30 September.
RCRP is a nationwide initiative aimed at identifying the most appropriate agency to provide support to our communities. The police are not always the right agency to respond to calls from the public, and RCRP will provide a framework for those calls to be directed to providers who are better placed to help.
In Greater Manchester, RCRP will apply to G15 jobs which cover concern for welfare, patients walking out or going AWOL from healthcare establishments, and medical support.
Missing persons are no longer part of RCRP and now fall under Operation Addition.
Please be aware that no changes should be made to the way we work before Right Care, Right Person is live.
Whom does this affect?
Decisions around RCRP will be made predominantly within
FCCO and by call handlers using a rigorous assessment tool. District officers and staff are not required or responsible for making RCRPrelated decisions; and district teams will not need to refer to RCRP at any point during their shift. If you have a query about a job which you believe should fall under RCRP, please speak to your line manager.
RCRP and the law
Under common law the police do not generally owe a duty of care to protect individuals from harm – whether this is caused by themselves or others.
The Human Rights Act 1998 does include provisions under which the police are responsible for taking reasonable measures to protect individuals from harm caused by others or by themselves:
• when there is a real and immediate risk to the life of a specific and identifiable person or group of persons (Article 2); or
• when there is a real and immediate risk of that person being subject to serious harm or other inhumane treatment
(Article 3).
Under GMP’s RCRP processes, we will no longer respond to category 1 medical matters; these will be passed to the North West Ambulance Service as a matter of course.
Training
Before RCRP goes live on 30 September, all officers and staff in training and public-facing roles must complete a 15-minute training package via College Learn, which can be found at https://www.learn. college.pnn.police.uk/CL/Content/ Summary/47978.
If there are any issues or queries you would like to raise, please email RCRP_Training@gmp.police. uk. Resources and support
You can find news, updates and resources for all aspects of Right Care, Right Person on our dedicated intranet hub by scanning the QR code below.
If you have a question about Right Care, Right Person, you can email the project team at RCRP@ gmp.police.uk.
Tackling cannabis farms across Tameside
Towards the end of August, a substantial cannabis farm was discovered in Hyde earlier this week.
Over 600 mature plants with an estimated street value of close to £700,000 will now never reach the streets of Tameside.
Whilst a seizure of this size may be a bad day for criminals, it is a fantastic result for the Hyde
neighbourhood policing team and the community as a whole.
Neighbourhoods Chief Inspector Henthorne added - These cannabis farms generate huge profits for criminals and cause harm to communities.
“Across Tameside our officers are determined to locate them and arrest those involved. It requires support from the public however who are
integral in supporting us by reporting anything suspicious.
“Cannabis enables and funds further criminality and serious organised so a seizure like this is a fantastic result. Together with our communities, we can make Tameside a safe place for our communities to live and work.”
Meet the Media Office: Your communications team
The corporate communications branch is the bridge between the force, it’s employees and the public.
The branch deals with all internal and external communication with employees and the media. Our main goal is to support operational policing and to enhance public confidence. The branch is located on the ground floor at Greater Manchester Police Force Headquarters (GMPFHQ).
In today’s fast-paced world, effective communication is essential for public safety. Their mission is to keep the public informed, safe, and engaged while also supporting our officers and staff. The media office provides proactive and reactive communications and media support to officers and staff of all ranks.
The team is made up of a media manager, two team leaders, a number of media officers, two social media support officers and a public relations and communications
apprentice. The press office takes on a variety of initiatives to increase public safety and enhance communication. For example, we warn and inform the public in response to incidents and emergencies. The team also produce multi-media content to help with reduction and prevention of crime, harm and anti-social behaviour, while also publicising delivery of good work to build public trust and confidence. In addition, they provide training and support to officers of all ranks, helping them navigate media interactions. Finally, they facilitate media opportunities proactively and reactively across incidents and portfolio areas, as well as requests for filming and documentaries, ensuring that all enquires are managed through the press office.
Following the tensions throughout the UK, they focused on ensuring that communities within Greater Manchester felt safe and supported
by:
• Providing messaging to build community reassurance and confidence in policing
• Showing what patrol officers were doing, patrols they were carrying out.
• Promoting the sentencing and charges people involved in the riots.
The media office office hours are Monday to Friday from 6:30 AM to 7:00 PM and on weekends from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. For any enquiries, please contact the team at ext 62230 during weekday office hours or via email at press.office@ qmp.police.uk. Out of hours contact can be made with the on-call press officer via the force duty officer. This series within district Brief will continue to highlight each of the teams within the corporate communications branch with a bit about what they do and what they are currently working on.
