Investigating What Matters: Officers in Bury Crack Down on Neighbourhood Crime

Throughout the past few months, the neighbourhood teams in Bury have been involved in a number of operations and jobs including traffic operations and community events.

Our officers have been making a difference in the community, tackling crime and providing visible reassurance across the district providing positive outcomes.

Officers from Whitefield’s neighbourhood policing team linked in with GMP’s Road Policing Unit and Commercial Vehicle Unit on 22 September for a traffic operation.

Operation Halt was out in conjunction with Safe4Summer, our campaign which ran from 30 June to 30 September that aimed at reducing crime across our town centres.

40 vehicles were stopped during the operation, which took place on Whitefield Road, and a number of drivers were reported or arrested for offences relating to mobile phone use, drug driving, bald tyres and not wearing seatbelts.

Sergeant Damieon Hartley-Pickles said that he and his team were committed to reducing criminality on the roads and streets of Whitefield to make it a safer place to live and drive.

Whitefield’s neighbourhood team didn’t stop there though, hosting a community event at St Andrew’s Food Bank on 1 October.

They arrived with an array of police vehicles that local residents and children could sit in and pretend to be officers with the lights and sirens on.

The event was a huge success and due to generous donations, they were able to fully stock the shelves which will be distributed to those who needed it most.

The Moorside neighbourhood team were out and about on 29 September alongside the District Tasking Team executing a number of warrants.

The warrants took place on the Chesham Fold Estate where two men were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs.

This led to £22,000 worth of drugs being taken off the streets and led to one of them men being charged and recalled back to prison.

One of the most serious incidents our officers had to deal with, not only in Bury but across GMP was the Heaton Park Synagogue terrorist attack.

The attack took place on 2 October 2025 and was devastating to the Jewish community.

As part of our response to this, Bury neighbourhood officers offered community reassurance to provide safeguarding to those communities affected.

The teams actively engaged with places of worship across the area, offering support and visibility, reflecting our commitment to sensitive engagement, proactive reassurance and maintaining trust during times of heightened concern.

Linking in closely with this attack, our Bury officers took part in Hate Crime Awareness Week which took place on Monday 13 October to Friday 17 October.

Officers took part in a series of impactful engagements across Bury, delivering training, raising awareness and reinforcing the importance of reporting hate crime.

They worked closely with local schools, community hubs, places or worship and local organisations and the sessions were well received, with strong participation and positive feedback from attendees.

Events and talks were given on topics such as personal safety, education on the LGBTQ+ community and self defence with boxing class delivered to young people at Bury Defence Academy.

The number of hate crimes have slowly increased in the last five years, with data showing that in 2020, 515 hate crime incidents were reported in Bury over the whole year.

Two years later in 2023, this number jumped up to 645 crimes reported and currently in 2025, the data which currently only goes up to the end of September shows that a total of 589 incidents have been reported this year.

This shows that as hate crime increases, the importance of reporting it is vital to try and tackle this issue.

Neighbourhood officers in Bury recently launched Operation Deprive on 27 October to try and reduce shoplifting in the town centre.

This means that officers will be deployed across the town centre to provide reassurance to the public and high visibility patrols will be a priority for Bury to reduce this type of crime and encourage reports to be submitted.

Four officers have been assigned to this operation to provide a consistent and proactive presence in the heart of the community.

The main aims of this operation are to enhance police visibility and accessibility, build confidence among the business community through partnership working, engage with local retailers and business owners to understand concerns and offer support, prevent and detect crime through proactive patrols and improve investigative outcomes and resolve reported business crime.

Since this operation has started, officers have been warmly welcomed by both retailers and members of the public with many shop owners expressing their appreciation for the increased police presence.

To find out more about what’s happening in your neighbourhood, visit the Your Area pages on our website and sign up to Bee in the Loop – your direct line to local policing updates.