Police support half-term fun

Date published: 24 February 2010

Young people from across Tameside benefited from a range of activities organised for them during the February half term by Youth Services.

More than 100 clubs and special events were arranged for young people including football and martial arts coaching, DJ workshops, fashion shows, multimedia lessons and a fundraising disco for Haiti.

The police supported many of these activities encouraging young people to become involved rather than potentially being drawn into anti-social behaviour.

Head of Youth Services Sue Nathan said: “This is the largest number of free activities that we have ever been able to offer young people in Tameside. The variety and quality of them was outstanding and in addition to the support of Tameside Council and Sports Development, 18 voluntary sector organisations were commissioned to deliver activities.

“The involvement of the police has also been positive as officers were able to drop into workshops and talk to young people, get to know them and show how their role in the community is not just about enforcement.

“The response to the activities has been very good and as a result we will be running similar schemes during the school holidays throughout the year.”

A wide range of youth clubs and sporting activities continue to be available for all ages and parents and young people can call the Youth Services on 0161 336 6615 to find out more.

In addition to the neighbourhood policing teams’ assistance in organising some of these clubs the police are continuing with their enforcement activities.

These include high visibility patrols of identified hot spots during peak times for ASB and special operations targeting trouble areas.

Police are also able to make use of new powers that came into force at the beginning of February under the Policing And Crime Act 2009, these will help officers when dealing with young people engaged in anti-social behaviour.

These include: 

• Amending police powers to confiscate alcohol from young people so they no longer need to prove the individual ‘intended’ to consume the alcohol
• Extending the ability to issue Directions To Leave so that they can be issued to people aged 10 to 15 years old
• Introducing a new offence for under 18s of ‘persistently possessing alcohol in a public place’
• Changing the offence of ‘persistently selling alcohol to under 18s’ from three strikes within three months to two strikes in the same period

A Direction To Leave enables a police officer to tell an individual to leave a public place where the officer believes it is necessary to remove or reduce the likelihood of there being alcohol-related crime or disorder in that locality. The direction also prohibits that individual from returning to that locality for up to 48 hours.

Chief Inspector Steve McFarlane said: “The police in Tameside are committed to working with residents to tackle crime and anti-social issues. Parks, open spaces and street corners are recognised as attracting a disproportionate amount of reports of anti-social behaviour.

By working with parents, Youth Services and Tameside Council we aim to encourage young people to take part in constructive activities rather than becoming involved in anti-social behaviour that generates calls to the police.”

If you have a local policing issue you can contact your neighbourhood policing team:
Tameside West NPT – Droylsden West, Droylsden East, Audenshaw, Denton West, Denton North East and Denton South – tel: 0161 856 9390 email: tameside.west@gmp.police.uk
Tameside North NPT – Waterloo, Hurst, St Peter’s, Ashton Town Centre and Ashton St Michael’s – tel: 0161 856 9350 email: tameside.north@gmp.police.uk
Tameside East NPT – Dukinfield, Stalybridge North, Stalybridge South, Mossley and Dukinfield & Stalybridge – tel: 0161 856 9511 email: tameside.east@gmp.police.uk
Tameside South NPT – Hyde Newton, Hyde Godley, Hyde Werneth and Longdendale & Hattersley – tel: 0161 856 9484 email tameside.south@gmp.co.uk

Anyone with any information about this or any similar type of crime should call Greater Manchester Police on 0161 872 5050 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Crimestoppers will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.