Burglars have nowhere to hide in Greater Manchester, as burglary reduces by 33% since the creation of Operation Castle

Burglary is down more than 33% in Greater Manchester which means that there are 456 fewer victims a month as the commitment to tackling and preventing burglary continues.

In July 2021, Operation Castle was launched across Greater Manchester in a bid to improve the way GMP dealt with burglaries with the main goal to ultimately reduce the number of burglaries across the force.

As a result, we recorded 11,246 burglaries last year, which amounts to 33% fewer than three years ago.

These numbers are not just statistics to us, each number represents a victim that has ultimately suffered at the hands of burglars in Greater Manchester, and our goal is to reduce this even more.

It has been almost four years since the creation of Operation Castle, and the initiative continues to see positive results for the communities in Greater Manchester and through arresting more burglars and building strong cases to secure convictions we can ensure prolific offenders are taken from our streets.

We have arrested 2,305 people on suspicion of burglary in 2024, which is a 25% increase compared with 2021 and the operation works by using a number of resources across the force. If you are burgled, there are different teams who will be there to support you.

A huge part of the fight is prevention, Fiona James has worked in GMP for over 40 years in a variety of different roles, she is now a Crime Prevention Coordinator working in our Crime Prevention hub and she is the burglary lead in her team. 

Fiona James (right) and her colleagues in Crime Prevention

Fiona’s team monitor burglary hotspots and by looking at the theories behind why crime is committed they can identify what can be put in place to reduce the volume of offending in that area.

Fiona said: “Once burglary has happened on a street, those who live close by are more likely to also become a victim as evidence shows burglars often target properties on the same street.

“It is so important for us to give out crime prevention advice to those people, because simple advice can be so effective at ensuring that household is not burgled, and our work undoubtedly helps make Greater Manchester just that little bit safer from burglars.”

Call handlers based in the Force Contact, Crime and Operations Branch are the first point of contact a victim will have with GMP, their role is imperative in keeping people calm and safe whilst finding out a location to send police officers, and this is no different for a burglary.

Call handler responding to a call 

Ella, a call handler from our Force Contact, Crime and Operations Branch, said: “Hearing the sound of sirens is what I listen out for every time, it means that our job is done, we have ensured that the victim was as reassured as they could be in that moment and officers are now at their home to keep them safe.”

Once response officers have attended a burglary, Crime Scene Investigators are also committed to attending every residential burglary to help gather evidence. Their role is important to ensure that investigating officers have the best possible evidence left behind by an offender to progress the case.

Crime Scene Investigator searching a stolen vehicle 

Hayley Craig, one of our Crime Scene Investigators, said: “We attend burglaries to collect evidence, and recently, I went to a burglary and when I walked in the whole house had been completely ransacked and a large amount of jewellery was taken. From searching the home, I saw some glove marks on the top-floor window and took samples from it. I later found out that it came back as a DNA hit and finding this out was a brilliant feeling – it is why we do the job.”

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.

Detective Inspector Natalie McDonald, who leads a neighbourhood crime team in Longsight, said: “When we come into work and see that there has been a burglary overnight, we work tirelessly to identify and build a case to ensure the offender cannot go out that night and commit any more burglaries against innocent members of the public.

“Our work involves making arrests either through proactive hotspot patrolling in areas where we are seeing a high number of burglaries, or by conducting early morning warrants on prolific offenders and then building a strong case file to ensure these people who are blighting our communities are taken off our streets.”

Burglary arrest

Detective Superintendent Alicia Smith who is the new force lead for Operation Castle, said: “Progress is being made, and it is down to each and every officer and member of police staff who always strive to get the best possible outcome for the victim by focussing on the basics, attending burglaries, making more arrests and bringing more offenders to justice and the result of this is that we are reducing burglaries in the longer term.

“We recognise that burglary is one of the most impactful and intrusive crimes someone can be a victim of, it is an attack on you, your home and your place of safety.

“Not only are we investigating more thoroughly now under Operation Castle but there is a real emphasis on prevention measures such as community education and ensuring that we have highly-visible and also 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 know we cannot get complacent, we are looking for more innovative ways to combat this type of crime in Greater Manchester.

“We have dedicated teams across the force who are cracking down on those people who are targeting innocent people and homes in Greater Manchester and our force wide work continues in the hope we can reduce the number of burglaries even further.

“We encourage anyone with information about burglaries in your area 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.

Officers on patrol in Rochdale

“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.