Neighbourhood Policing Profiles - PC Clare Redhead

GMP is conducting a week of intensified Neighbourhood Policing as part of a renewed focus on tackling the crimes that matter most to our communities.

Coinciding with the national Neighbourhood Policing (NP) Week of Action, January 17 - Sunday 23 January 2022 will see a range of operations in support of GMP's hard-working Neighbourhood Officers and PCSOs.

Each day we'll hear a different voice from across the force speak about how they've worked within their neighbourhood to make a positive impact.

Just 18 months ago, PC Redhead was working as complaints handler on behalf of a bank.

Now she's at the forefront of driving down youth anti-social behaviour in after joining GMP via Police Now - a scheme that quickly recruits officers to forces across the country.

She said: "I felt stuck in my last job and wanted somewhere I could have a career and progress.

"There are lots of opportunities and career paths that you can take with the police, so applied."

PC Redhead now works for the benefit of the on the Goldborne and West Lowton communities, engaging with young people in the area to deter them from crime and quickly problem-solve local issues alongside partner agencies including the council.

She said: "I have a good working relationship with the school in my area and go in to do presentations for the children.

"Getting to know them in school means that I'm approachable outside of school and they'll speak to me.

"Some of the children do, unfortunately, know older people who have been drawn into crime. It's about trying to prevent that happening by developing mutual respect and building up that trust to help reduce anti-social behaviour."

A big part of PC Redhead's work is maintaining a network of key contacts with partner agencies so the police can be at the heart of problem solving crime-linked issues like ASB in the community.

She added: "We work with Wigan Council's Community Resilience Teams and go and speak to the parents of children causing ASB.

"If issues continue, we can get good behaviour contracts, whereby if the terms of the contract are broken, the child can receive injunctions to prevent them visiting certain areas."

As well as helping to apprehend those responsible for ASB, this joined-up approach to policing also helps to fix the wider issues it causes.

"If we've got a problem, we'll have meetings with partners and see what we can come up with to solve issues.

"It's important as we have that direct link in to other agencies to get problems sorted quickly.

"For example, we had someone that was a victim of ASB and had their windows smashed, so were able to work with housing providers to get that resolved for the victim, while also finding the offender."

Follow the conversation on social media via #NeighbourhoodPolicingWeek #WeekOfAction

Find your local Neighbourhood Officer by entering your postcode at www.gmp.police.uk/a/your-area