Safer Streets Weekly Roundup: Bodmin, Bolton, Sheffield, Erdington

We are determined to make the UK the safest place to live, work, and raise a family. Over the last week, we’ve seen some great examples of work underway to make our streets safer – from Bolton to Erdington, and Bodmin to Sheffield.

Arrest of the Week

Drugs destroy lives, so it was great to see police in Bolton arrest five men in relation to drug dealing via so-called ‘County Lines’. They recovered large amounts of cocaine and heroin, along with £20,000 in cash. Those who deal drugs pedal misery and deserve to face serious consequences for their criminal actions.

Stop and Search

Knife crime continues to a be a serious problem, and so it is great to see police officers in Erdington using their stop and search powers to great effect – recovering knives from one suspect, and also recovering discarded machetes following an earlier incident. Critics routinely slam stop and search, but fail to recognise that every knife or weapon taken off the street is potentially a life saved – and that without stop and search we would be sure to see an increase in knife and weapon carrying. We offer a big round of applause to the officers for taking these weapons off the streets!

Traffic Stops and Roads Policing

It can be easy for some to overlook the fundamental importance of basic vehicle maintenance – as this driver appears to have done, driving around on terrible tyres. Great to see traffic cops in Wiltshire spotting this dangerous vehicle, and dealing with the offence. For the benefit of readers, the ‘RPU’ is the Roads Policing Unit, and the ‘TOR’ is a Traffic Offence Report.

Warrants and Raids

A sunny day in Bodmin, as police raided an address for drugs, and recovered a number of suspected stolen items. Not every warrant or raid will result in major finds, but they remain an important tool to prevent and detect criminality. There’s every likelihood that the address will have been causing a nusiance and problem for local residents. If you don’t want your door to be put in like this, then don’t be a criminal.

Cleaner Streets are Safer Streets

The Foundation believes that cleaner streets are safer streets – and this week we had a great example from Sheffield of criminals serving community sentences being required to clean up, tidy up, and spruce up part of the city. In this case, they were installing posts to prevent anti-social behaviour. Community Payback like this should always seek to make a positive and visible difference to the local area – whether that’s removing graffiti, clearing litter, removing fly-tipping, or, as in this case, making a change to the public space that makes it safer.

If you’d like to see the work of you or your team featured in the Weekly Roundup, please connect with us via our social media, or drop us an email.