GMP Wigan and partners launch crack down on criminals with zero-tolerance approach to organised crime

This month, Greater Manchester Police Wigan district have launched their new organised crime strategy, the Place and Community Safety partnership. This is a multi-agency group made up of key partners including Wigan Council, Home Office Immigration Enforcement, Department for Work and Pensions, National Probation Service, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and local charities, who will relentlessly pursue the criminal networks operating across the borough.

With a common vision and a shared goal to make communities safer, this operation will use all powers, policies, and levers available to target every element of criminality, whether that’s evicting nuisance tenants, exposing benefits fraud and money laundering, or tackling illegal dog breeding and drug supply. This collaborative approach enables police and partners to develop innovative and preventative measures to disrupt the organised criminal networks and deny them access to money, assets, and infrastructure, making a very real difference in making our communities safe and feeling safer.

To celebrate the launch, the day started in Worsley Hall at 6am, when officers executed warrants in response to community concerns regarding county lines drug dealing and anti-social behaviour. A number of items were seized, consistent with a suspected drugs operation, including a burner phone, often used to send out bulk messages to customers advertising drugs. Police also made a number of safeguarding referrals to relevant partner agencies.

Neighbourhood police also patrolled hot spot areas to engage with teenagers and young adults who could be at risk of exploitation by organised crime groups.

Police were joined by the Community Resilience Team from Wigan Council who are responsible for working with residents and tenants, securing closure orders of properties involved with criminality.

In addition to tackling those responsible for the exploitation of young and vulnerable victims, police supported partners at Wigan Council to carry out a range of community engagement sessions to help educate the local communities on how to spot the signs of exploitation, and how they can help play their part in helping safeguard those who may be at risk.

This included an Estate Tidy Up and Talk with Tenants event earlier in the week attended by the estate caretaking team, the Neighbourhood Tenancy team, and local neighbourhood police. This gave residents visible reassurance that support is available and was an opportunity for the community to share concerns and what issues they want to see tackled.

Since May, working in partnership, police have made 31 arrests for offences linked to organised crime, made seven safeguarding referrals, seized large amounts of crack cocaine and heroin, and 38 nuisance properties have been shut down – a record amount of closure orders across Greater Manchester.

This new multi-agency operation will see partners meet on a monthly basis to discuss local concerns, fill intelligence gaps, and ensure a robust plan is in place to tackle the identified threat.

But it won’t just be about pursuing the criminals. Every top-level gang member started somewhere, so a really important element to the success of this multi-agency board is prevention and ensuring safeguarding is in place from an early stage to stop our young people progressing through the ranks.

The impact of serious organised crime is far reaching, and it can manifest itself in many insidious ways, but as this operation evolves and embeds, we will endeavour to protect our communities, and prevent young people and vulnerable adults from being targeted by organised crime groups.

Detective Inspector Patrick Wood from GMP Wigan Challenger team said: “Historically, each agency tackling these issues alone hasn’t worked, for example, police could execute a warrant and close drug lines down but within a few days a new one would open up. We believe that working together, sharing our information and resources, provides us with the most efficient and effective response to tackle organised crime from every angle.

“We need to get to the root causes of the issues that allow serious and organised criminals to embed into our communities. To do that, we’re working in line with the home office ‘clear, hold, build’ strategy to build a legacy across Wigan and Leigh that removes the threat, helps communities build back stronger, and creates opportunities for young people, therefore eliminating the risk of them becoming targets for organised criminal groups to recruit.

“We know that crime evolves over time, often taking advantage of new technologies and situations. Until now we’ve always been one step behind them. This partnership is our chance to level the playing field, with more intelligence sharing, more resources, and more powers to remove these criminals from our communities.

“For too long, criminals and their families have been able to exponentially benefit from their ill-gotten gains, keeping themselves at arm’s length away from the overt and brazen criminality, exploiting vulnerable residents to do their bidding. We will change this attitude and make Wigan and Leigh the most hostile environment for organised criminals and their families to live and operate in.”

Councillor Dane Anderton, portfolio holder for police, crime and civil contingencies said: “The safety of our residents is paramount, and we are proud to work together under the Place and Community Safety partnership to combine intelligence and ensure long-term robust plans are in place to tackle organised crime.

“Our teams have been working in communities, listening to residents’ concerns, and helping prevent young people from taking the wrong path through early intervention. Its already impressive results are testament to the significant collaborative work within the partnership. We are keen to build on this and the new operation will continue the great work being achieved as a partnership.”