Heroes by day and superheroes by night: A shift with Special Constables highlight GMP's commitment to ASB awareness week

Whilst their colleagues left work for the day, our special constables in Tameside were ready to tackle ASB during the national week of action to raise awareness of ASB in communities across the country.

Specials are volunteer police officers who have the same powers, uniforms and equipment as their regular police colleagues.But what makes them so special is that they give up their free time on a voluntary basis, balancing their personal lives, family and day jobs around duties. Their work is purely voluntary, and they all have a strong desire to help the communities by protecting and tackling crime.

Earlier this week, we spent a night shift with the special police officers in Tameside to showcase the work they do across communities in Greater Manchester.

The Special constabulary in Tameside continue to tackle ASB and regularly patrol hotspot areas to deter anti-social behaviour and continue to develop their patrol plans based on information from the community so we can place ourselves where you need us the most. 

During the night we patrolled hotspot areas that are known to police.

Firstly, we patrolled round Oxford Park in the Ashton area of Tameside. This is an area that has previously had issues linked to Anti-Social behaviour, we have continued to target this area and it has made a significant difference. At this location we issued to parking tickets to those parked in disabled bays, parking in these bays causes issues for people needing to use these parking bays to be close to the venues.

Secondly, we patrolled around the bus stop and Ashton Town Centre areas to ensure people were safe.

We were then called to assist a search for a high-risk missing person who was later found safe and well by our colleagues on response.

We visited a number of supermarket stores who have been having issues with anti-social behaviour in previous weeks to provide a visible reassurance to shoppers and store staff and management that any issues with ASB will be dealt with swiftly and robustly.

We stopped and pulled over a number of drivers for various reasons ranging from no brake lights to being uninsured, both causing issues for other road users.

Special Constables on patrol in Tameside

Special Inspector Andrew Morell, of GMP’s Tameside District said: “Our teams are visible out and about, not only during this week, but we will continue this momentum by continuing to tackle ASB across Tameside.

“We have been patrolling a number of hotspots in and around Tameside and during the evening spoke to numerous people and provided a clear and visible presence for our neighbourhoods.

“ASB is a really important issue across Greater Manchester and anything our volunteer officers can do to help reduce this type of behaviour is appreciated.

“The team will continue to work hard and provide us with their free time, alongside their day jobs to help keep people safe.”

We want our communities to be our eyes and ears. If you have any concerns regarding anti-social behaviour, please report them to ourselves via the dedicated link on our website - https://www.gmp.police.uk/ro/report/asb/asb/report-antisocial-behaviour/

Over the past year, GMP’s specials have volunteered 76,000 hours which is the equivalent to 36 full-time regular police officers. Want to be a Special? Find out more and apply here Special constables | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)