The number of drug related stop and searches undertaken by police in Bury has rocketed in the past year. Figures published by Bury Council this week show that 254 such searches took place in the borough from April to June this year, up from just 65 searches in thethree month period from July to September, 2021.
A report has been sent to councillors six months after the development of a new Community Safety Partnership (CSP) plan for Bury which also identified a spate of knife robberies in the town centre earlier this year. The plan’s six priorities are to reducing drug related offending, to support victims and tackle causes of domestic abuse, strengthen community cohesion, create and maintain safe spaces, tackle anti-social behaviour and reducing re offending.
Weekly neighbourhood priority setting meetings now take place between GMP neighbourhood teams and the council’s community safety manager to shape responses to emerging crime trends. The figures show that the number of crimes recorded in the borough linked to drugs was 65 in the most recent quarter, which is showing an upward trend.
