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It’s the ‘cruel’ crime that affects 14 in every 1,000 households in Greater Manchester. But where the police once struggled to respond to reports of burglary - or didn’t at all - they now respond to the most serious cases within 15 minutes.
Almost all victims now get a visit after a burglary and outcomes have improved dramatically. But senior leaders say ‘there is more hard work to be done’.
I’ve been speaking to the man leading Greater Manchester Police’s burglary strategy about how a more 'sophisticated' approach will improve things further. Let’s begin.
‘We’re trying to be a bit more sophisticated’
Superintendent Chris Foster is a busy man. As Greater Manchester Police’s lead for burglary his work feeds into the new neighbourhood model. That new model - said to be the biggest change in a generation - will see 264 police officers posted to neighbourhood teams in the hope of better tackling crimes like burglary, drug dealing and car theft.
Supt Foster moved to GMP two years ago from South Yorkshire Police - the force his boss, Chief Constable Stephen Watson, was credited with turning around. He’s worn a number of hats since, but consistent has been his role as force lead for burglary. And he says things are looking up.
In the 12 months to February 2023, officers solved 68.7 per cent more residential burglaries than in the previous year. In that time, the number of people arrested on suspicion of burglary in Greater Manchester rose by 42.1 per cent. And in the same period, the force recorded 688 fewer residential burglaries.
Supt Foster is pleased with the results and holds them up as proof of the good work of officers across the force. Nevertheless, he says ‘there is more hard work to be done’.
"Though it has reduced, the number of burglaries being committed in Greater Manchester is still too high - with 14 per every 1,000 households," he says.
He insists tackling burglary is a priority for GMP and things have improved via 'Operation Castle' - with more suspects arrested and more cases progressed to the courts. And he says the new neighbourhood policing model will increase visibility and improve accessibility to officers.
“In every district we've got neighbourhood crime teams who look at robbery, burglary, theft from person. They’ve also been looking at conspiracies around burglaries,” he says. "It might be that we’ve not caught someone in the act but we can get them afterwards in terms of conspiracy to burgle. So in terms of the organisation around the investigations we’ve made real improvements.
“And we’re getting to burglaries faster - if it’s a Grade 1 we’re doing it in 15 minutes if it’s a Grade 2 within the hour. Because they’re really impactive crimes."
GMP say the new neighbourhood approach is about working smarter. As an example of this Supt Foster says officers recently managed to link a number of crimes in Stockport, Oldham and Tameside in which an offender was burning locks.
“They’re looking at whether it’s the same person doing the job," he says. "So rather than one individual looking at that in isolation, we’re coordinating the approach to make sure we’re detecting more of those types of crimes."
Meanwhile, a new inputting tool is being used which has reduced the length of time it takes to record crimes. And the number of solved burglary crimes has risen from 3 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
As well as arresting criminals and sending them to court, there is also work being done to improve prevention. “Rather than just sending out random crime prevention advice that might not be specific to your particular incident, we’re trying to be a bit more sophisticated in the approach,” Supt Foster says.
“So if you had your lock burnt and your car stolen then we would give you advice about putting your keys in a Faraday pouch. Or perhaps putting up lighting around the doors where the locks have been burnt.”
Victims will also be told how to preserve a scene, offered a home security checklist and items such as light timers and window alarms. It’s hoped this approach will improve confidence in officers and encourage people to report more suspicious activity to police.
“The results we’re getting in burglaries - the upward trend in terms of arrests, outcomes, reduction of crimes, better recording of crimes - that will breed confidence and people will think ‘actually they’re doing a better job’ so they’re more likely to tell us about it,” Supt Foster says.
According to Home Office figures there were 4,477 crimes of burglary in the Manchester community safety partnership areas (CSP) in the year ending September 2022. Those numbers relate to burglary, aggravated burglary, attempted burglary, distraction burglaries and attempted distraction burglaries.
That was the second-highest number of offences of all CSP areas in England and Wales - just behind Birmingham. But when compared to population size, residents in Manchester were more likely to be burgled than people living anywhere else. For every 1,000 households there were 20.8 burglary crimes in Manchester during that time.
GMP point to more up-to-date statistics. They show the Greater Manchester-wide rate to be 14 burglary crimes for every 1,000 households in the 12 months to February. In that time GMP recorded 688 fewer burglaries than the year before. Despite this, Supt Foster feels there are still improvements to be made.
“Yes there’s 688 fewer but there are still too many people that have been burgled,” he says. The superintendent is also acutely aware of the impact a crime like burglary can have on individuals and families.
For people like Adam Waring, the impact can be terrifying. As previously reported by the M.E.N, he was relaxing at his home in Astley Bridge when he heard a noise in the hallway. When he went to investigate he was confronted with a burglar with a knife, who quickly fled. The incident, back in February, left Adam so terrified he now wants to move house. “It’s horrible, I haven’t slept for a week,” he said at the time.
Supt Foster says the investigation into an incident like that will now be far more sophisticated that it once was. “I would have hoped that we’ve got a better response to someone even getting into your house - because we’ve got more officers out and about doing stop searches, arresting the people who might be committing that crime. So the person with a knife might be in prison even prior to committing that burglary.
“But if you have got someone with a knife in your home and you call 999, we’re going to be there within 15 minutes. We’re going to make sure it’s assessed properly within the force communications centre and officers will get to that incident within the time expected.
“If there are items stolen you’ll get some follow up around the investigation of that crime and we will more likely arrest the person who has committed that crime because of the better forensic approach, the better investigation standards. And the neighbours will be safer.
“And finally the crime prevention advice will be improved so they will hopefully not get burgled again.”
Kate Green, deputy mayor for Policing, says GMP is making ‘positive steps’ towards stamping out the ‘cruel’ crime of burglary across the region under Chief Constable Stephen Watson’s leadership.
She says the Neighbourhood Policing model is 'the most significant change to policing in our city-region in a generation'. "There will be a much greater focus on officers and partner agencies working together in communities to fight crime and solve local problems - like burglary, speeding and drug dealing,” she says.
‘I used to sleep with a bag of cans like it was a teddy’
Sam Hancock was eight when he fell from his maisonette balcony in Collyhurst. He was fixing his bike when he leant on a broken glass pane and plunged 25ft to the ground.
Miraculously, Sam was left unharmed. The Helly Hansen jacket he was wearing at the time protected him from serious injury. The puffer coat saved his life.
But that brush with death would later lead him down a path of self-destruction - one that would see him drink up to 30 cans of alcohol a day. “I used to sleep with a bag of cans like it was a teddy,” he told reporter Paige Oldfield. “It was unbelievable.”
Sam and his family received a compensation pay-out of around £2,700 following the incident. The money was put in a trust fund and Sam was able to access the cash once he turned 18. But it all went downhill from there.
Sam, now 30, used the small fortune to enjoy nights out with friends. But what started out as social drinking spiralled into drinking every day - with Sam soon spending his days drunk and alone in his bedroom listening to Celine Dion.
He has been speaking to Paige about his addiction, his road to recovery and how he eventually secured his dream job.
'I used to be homeless - I got really angry when I saw people filming him'
I thought this story from reporter Hakim Hafazalla was inspiring. Hakim has been speaking to Nigel Hollander, 78, who says things changed for him when he approached a homeless man begging on Market Street. Soon after he noticed more and more people begging and rough sleeping in his own community in Trafford, so he started handing out meal deals and hot drinks on colder days.
“I have a lot of spare time,” he says. “What inspired me to do it was through YouTube. I'm new to it and was just scrolling and saw a video pop up on my 'recommended' of a guy who dropped money in front of a homeless person and filmed him to see how he would spend it.
“I used to be homeless when I was in my 20s and I got really angry that they were filming him. Why can't he just give him the money and leave him be? That just made me want to go out and help a person without having to flaunt it all over social media. Imagine how that homeless bloke feels.”
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Weather etc
- Saturday: Cloudy. 10C.
- Road closures: M67 Eastbound entry slip road closed due to long-term roadworks at J2 A57 Hyde Road (Denton). Until December 1, 2025.
- A662 Pollard Street Westbound closed due to roadworks from Pollard Street to A665 Great Ancoats Street. Until April 13.
- Trivia question: What have Carlos Tevez, Peter Schmeichel, Owen Hargreaves and Andy Cole got in common?
Manchester headlines
Dismissed: A Greater Manchester Police Chief Inspector has been dismissed from the force for twice providing a promotion candidate with confidential information. Chief Inspector Nicola Demaine's actions were found to have amounted to gross misconduct and breached the expected standards of a professional behaviour, police say. A disciplinary hearing was held at GMP's headquarters yesterday (March 29). Demaine, who worked in corporate services, will also be added to the College of Policing Barred List. Full story here.
- ‘Disgraceful’: Furious Ancoats residents have put up spikes to stop ‘disgraceful’ parking outside their houses. After launching a petition to call on the council to solve parking problems on Weybridge Road, residents have taken matters into their own hands. It comes after United Utilities workers asked motorists to remove their cars from a grass verge in order to carry out necessary repairs to pipes. Work did not start as scheduled yesterday. Residents also fear for the safety of road users. Local Jaime Lightbowne said. ‘It’s an accident waiting to happen.’ More here.
Graveyard: Salford city council’s legal team is set to contact the Roman Catholic church in a bid to ‘get to the bottom’ of who owns a disused cemetery ‘once and for all’. Town hall bosses are also appealing for the mystery people, or organisation, who fixed new gates to Barton Upon Irwell RC Cemetery at Peel Green to contact them to 'establish their interest in the site'. No one has yet been able to establish who the overgrown burial ground - last used in 1940 - belongs to, or who is responsible for its upkeep. Yet, after the Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted how easy it was to gain access, the rusting gates and broken padlock were restored bearing a notice ‘private property trespassers keep out’. The conundrum over who owns the site prompted amateur historian Craig Ellis to write to Pope Francis over the demise of the graveyard, which he said had become a place where people went to drink alcohol and take drugs. More here.
- Masterplan: A masterplan for how Hyde could be rejuvenated over the next two decades has been revealed. A four-week public consultation will launch in May to get people’s views on the new vision for Hyde town centre, which aims at ‘unlocking’ its ‘comprehensive redevelopment’. The programme is envisioned to take 15 to 20 years, with both short and long-term goals being set by the local authority. The draft proposals aim to make Hyde a ‘desirable place to live, socialise and shop’ and a ‘thriving hub for daily urban life’, reversing a decline in its ‘viability and vitality’. More here.
Worth a read
"It's a beautiful space,” says Patrick Robinson of Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.
“I studied to be an architect before I went to drama school so I look at buildings like this, and wow this is an incredible building. It's like a spaceship has just landed inside, like it's just materialised in Star Trek. To see the theatre within this building it's incredible, it's beautiful.”
Patrick - star of stage, screen and of Strictly Come Dancing - has been speaking to Dianne Bourne about the new production of Tennessee Williams classic Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, in which he plays Big Daddy.
Bayo Gbadamosi takes on the role of his son Brick, with Ntombizodwa Ndlovu as Maggie ‘the cat’ while Jacqui Dubois as Big Mama is also making her Royal Exchange debut.
The play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama back in 1955 but 70 years on it holds its resonance - not least, as Patrick says, because it's about dysfunctional families.
“I'd say Big Daddy talks about mendacity, of lies and liars and how we pretend so much in terms of what we do in relationships,” he says. “You put on that false air to just get through life. I think it's very relevant today as it's all about relationships and we all have them in families.”
You can read the full interview here and read the M.E.N’s review here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: They’ve all played for Manchester United AND Manchester City in the Premier League.
