On Patrol With The Local Police

Along with Astley Bridge Ward Councillor, Hillary Fairclough, I recently spent a Friday evening on patrol with our local police.    We started the evening at 6.30pm with a meeting with Inspector John Boyes.    The Inspector gave us a quick run through of the computerised logs which contained real time live incidents.  It was clear from the logs that the police were dealing with a mixed bag of incidents, from all the usual general disturbances to a 'male flasher' who was exposing himself in one of our local parks.

Hillary and I then joined up with seven officers in a police van to head out to an incident in Breightmet, lights and sirens flashing, certainly not my normal Friday night out!    When we arrived at the incident, which was a disturbance in a house to which a large crowd had gathered, the police officers immediately calmed everything and everyone down and dealt with the incident in a very professional and courteous manner.

After we left that location we drove around the surrounding area in Breightmet, before being called over to an incident in Tonge.   Two young boys had been accused of damaging a car. The boys really didn't seem like bad lads, they were polite, apologetic and keen to talk about football and what they were doing at school, the police dealt with them accordingly and sensibly.

It was clear to me that the team we were patrolling with clearly knew the villains in the area and what to look for, and as we patrolled the area we stopped frequently and confisacted alcohol from several youths, the youths tried to hide the alcohol up their  jumpers, but the police were wise to their tricks.

We then got a call to attend a house that had the door kicked in and the contents were currently being loaded in a van, this thankfully turned out to be a false alarm, reported by a neighbour, the guys were simply moving house!  Not sure about the door though?

It was clear from the time I spent with the police that they have an extremely challenging job and one that can be dangerous.   

Bolton North East is a diverse constituency, and I believe it’s really important to go out with the police and other agencies to see for myself the problems that are on our streets.   For me this is the first of many outings, and I will regularly be doing this and will continue to report back on the issues that matter.