Operation Castle continues to slam doors on criminals for almost 3 years

In July 2021, we launched Operation Castle in a bid to reduce the number of burglaries in Greater Manchester. After the success shown from the pilot operation in Greater Manchester Police, the Home Office announced that all police forces across the country would be required to attend every report of domestic burglary as part of the Government’s national commitment to reducing crime, lessening victims, and creating a safer nation.

Nearly three years on from its creation, Operation Castle continues to generate positive results for communities in Greater Manchester and we have invested in additional training for officers and staff to improve their investigative skills.

Dedicated burglary teams have been implemented across local districts and improvements made to our operational response model which allowed us to respond to reports of burglaries quicker providing a better service to victims of crime.

Operation Castle works by using resources across the force to promote crime prevention, improve detections, and also improve public confidence that an attendance at every burglary achieves.

Officers and staff working in neighbourhood crime teams across districts have arrested a number of offenders and ensured that residents and business owners are given crime prevention advice to reduce repeat incidents together with dedicated burglary cars across districts to support response colleagues in getting to victims quicker.

Since the creation of Operation Castle in July 2021, residential burglary has seen an overall decrease of 30% since May 2021, along with a 15% decrease in business and community burglary.

Arrests for total burglary crimes have seen an increase of 15.5% from 1,752 in 2021 to 2022 to 2,023 in 2023 to 2024. The proportion of these arrest that resulted in a charge has risen from 32.2% to 38.2%, with an additional 209 charges made in the latest 12 months.

Superintendent Chris Foster, force lead for burglary, said: “The reason why we have reduced the number of burglaries in Greater Manchester is because we are arresting more burglars and investigating incidents more thoroughly, ensuring we look out for any linked burglaries happening in a certain area. If we can arrest someone that is offending repeatedly in our communities - we are that bit closer to making a safer Greater Manchester.

“Since July 2021, across the force, officers and detectives as well as crime prevention staff have worked tirelessly to make more arrests and bring more offenders to justice, therefore reducing the number of burglaries longer term.

“Officers not only investigate more thoroughly now under Operation Castle, prevention measures such as community education and ensuring that we have highly-visible and plain clothed regular patrols continue to keep people safe.

“We work closely with partner agencies to proactively solve burglaries but we know there is still a lot of work that we need to do and we continue to look for more innovative ways to combat this type of crime in Greater Manchester.

“Teams across the force continue to tackle offenders who are targeting innocent people and homes in Greater Manchester. We continue to work hard to tackle burglaries and encourage anyone with information to report it to police - your information could be vital in enhancing our intelligence picture and shaping patrol plans as well as assisting us in bringing those offenders who are blighting communities to justice.

“Information can be reported online via the GMP website, or by calling 101. Always dial 999 in an emergency.

Details can be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.