Today’s theme is ‘making neighbourhood policing something to be proud of.’

We have a long tradition of neighbourhood policing here in GMP and many of us joined policing to make a difference. We often hear the phrase “the police are the public and the public are the police”, a principle that involves us working together with our communities. In Rochdale, we have kept our traditional roots whilst modernising our ways of working to meet new demands and different crime types.

As part of #NeighbourhoodPolicingWeek we want to showcase some of the work that we are doing in our communities across Rochdale, Pennine, Heywood and Middleton. Today I asked some of our staff why they love neighbourhood Policing in #Rochdale:

Neighbourhood Beat Officer PC Holden for P2 said : “I like the proactive nature of the role, being able to respond to the concerns of the community, dealing with what they want and what impacts them the most. This gives me fulfilment”

PCSO Mo Mahboob and Sohail Hussain cover P1. They are passionate about community policing telling me they love to “work with the community to listen to their problems about crime and anti-social behaviour, discuss options and then work in partnership to resolve those issues”. For them, PCSOs are the “eyes and ears” of policing, helping build trust and confidence through engagement, problem solving and targeted activity.  

Inspector Cooke works on P3 covering Heywood and Middleton . He is a life-long Oldham Athletic fan. I asked him why he is proud to be a neighbourhood officer. He kept it simple saying “we are serving our community and making a difference”, a sentiment echoed by virtually every officer I spoke to.

You may not know this, but many of our Partner agencies work within Rochdale Police station. This offers opportunities beyond co-location. I spoke to the Mental Health Clinical Lead for the NHS Kyle Hussain who explained “Partnership working within the Prevention Hub offers good outcomes for people. We can often avoid a criminal justice outcome by getting people the right treatment and support. This reduces demand on both the Police and on A&E”

Neighbourhood policing is always evolving and within our Prevention Hub we have PC Gibson who is working the local Prison. I spoke to her about her role. She said “This role presents me with an exciting new challenge of working with staff and prisoners at the prison… looking at rehabilitation ideas to prevent reoffending and make changes for the better in society. Being the prison liaison officer allows new challenges and makes me proud to represent the police force in a different dynamic way. I can work with victims to ensure that justice is served, and offenders are brought to account for their actions.”