Neighbourhood Policing in 2025

Good Evening Resident,

As 2025 comes to an end, I would like to take this time to provide you the results achieved by the Bolton North Neighbourhood Team this year. The Bolton North area consists of:

• Astley Bridge and Sharples

• Breightmet

• Bromley Cross and Egerton

• Harwood and Bradshaw

• Halliwell and Hall i'th Wood

• Halliwell and Queens Park

• Smithills

• Tonge and The Haulgh

In 2025, we have:

✋🏼 Stopped 744 vehicles to check they are being used legally on the road.

👮🏼 Arrested 329 people for various offences, such as shoplifting, burglary, vehicle crime, robbery and drug offences.

🛑 Stop and searched 269 people, locating drugs, weapons, fireworks and stolen property.

🚗 Seized 217 vehicles for various reasons, such as having no insurance, no licence, being used anti-socially or stolen.

🗣️ Hosted 123 community meetings, consisting of quarterly Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings and regular surgeries in each community, giving members of the public the opportunity to speak to their local officers about issues that concern them.

📄 Issued 105 tickets to motorists who have committed offences on the road, such as speeding, using their mobile phone, having no licence or insurance, running red lights or not wearing their seatbelt.

🚸 Enrolled 30 Mini Police officers from primary schools in Halliwell, Harwood and Breightmet.

🏠 Executed 14 warrants issued by the court for drugs, dangerous dogs and stolen property.

🚫 Issued 13 Community Protection Warnings/Notices to individuals whose behaviour has had a detrimental effect on the community.

❗Obtained 11 Criminal Behaviour Orders at court against people to prevent further shoplifting, burglary, begging and vehicle crime.

These figures are just the tip of the iceberg showing the hard work your neighbourhood officers are putting in to make your community a safe place to live. We have also ran numerous operations throughout the year:

• Operation Classify has ran all year and is our dedicated response to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads in Bolton. We have worked closely with Bolton Council to identify persistent speeders on main arterial routes and take action against those motorists. This work has shown an overall reduction in the average speed in Bolton. We have also conducted monthly dedicated traffic operations across the Bolton North area.

• Operation Hurricane was our dedicated response to the anti-social use of off road bikes in the community over summer. With assistance from the Roads Policing Unit and National Police Air Service, we seized 33 bikes that went on to be crushed.

• Operation Machinize was held twice this year to target criminal exploitation of high-street businesses for activities such as money laundering, the sale of illicit goods, and modern slavery. In partnership with Immigration, HMRC, Trading Standards and Environmental Enforcement, thousands of pounds worth of illegal vapes, cigarettes and drugs were recovered.

• Operation Yetminster is our dedicated response to begging around Bolton North. This operation has been running all year and has seen officers visit hotspot locations for begging 388 times, identified 32 different people begging, issued numerous Community Protection Warnings & Notices and had Criminal Behaviour Orders granted at court.

• Safer Business Action Week saw us providing additional support to local retailers to tackle retail crime, anti-social behaviour and other crimes impacting businesses in local communities.

• Operation Sceptre is our dedicated response to knife-enabled crime, such as violence and robbery. We conducted visits to shops to educate staff around the safe sale of knives, as well as conducting weapon sweeps at local parks, visiting individuals who have previously been found carrying a knife or involved in knife crime and providing inputs to local schools.

• Safer Streets provided funding from the Home Office over summer to crack down on retail crime, Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and anti-social behaviour. Officers were deployed across the Bolton North area, dedicated to patrolling hotspot areas.

• Hate Crime Awareness Week saw officers raising awareness about hate crime reporting and ensuring the community know there is a zero tolerance approach to those who commit hate crime.

• Operation Treacle is our annual response to the Halloween/Bonfire period, where we traditionally see an increase in anti-social behaviour. Officers conducted numerous stop and searches of people involved in anti-social behaviour with fireworks, as well as making a number of referrals to Bolton Council's Community Safety Team to enrol children on the Anti-Social Behaviour Pathway.

• Operation North Star is our most current operation, focusing on high-priority crimes like domestic abuse, fraud, drug/drink driving, and neighbourhood crime during the festive season and beyond, involving increased patrols, community engagement, and partnerships to make communities safer.

Many of our results could not have been achieved without the information provided to us by you, the community. I would like to thank all those that support our efforts in providing information about crime in the area and those responsible. With this information, it enables us to apply to a court for a warrant, patrol the right areas at the right time and target those who cause problems for communities.

You can provide information completely anonymously via CrimeStoppers on their website (Independent UK charity taking crime information anonymously | Crimestoppers) or by ringing 0800 555 111. You can also attend one of our regular police surgeries, which are advertised on Bee in the Loop and on our website (Home | Greater Manchester Police).

It is important we know what the bothers the community the most to ensure we are tackling the right problems.

All the best for 2026,

Zach