Cops have gone undercover to tackle crime hotspots in Wigan and Leigh. They include a well-known nature reserve which is currently undergoing a £2.7m upgrade with a new visitor centre and cafe.
Pennington Flash is a 490-acre country park which sustains 230 bird species but it was on a list of locations targeted by police. In a post on social media, Greater Manchester Police said: "Officers from Wigan and Leigh have been engaged in a plain clothes operation for the last two nights and have actively been targeting areas known for drug dealing, ASB, burglaries and thefts in order to reduce and prevent offences of this nature in your communities.
On February 2nd and 3rd officers in plain clothes and plain vehicles have patrolled the areas of Pennington Flash Leigh, Railway Road Leigh, Parsonage Retail Park, Astley Park Tyldesley, Wigan Town Centre and bus station, Scholes Precinct, Clayhole Park Hindley, Danes Avenue Hindley and Platt Bridge.
The post adds: "Nine stop searches were recorded, 4 of which were positive for possession of drugs and the offenders dealt with accordingly. Officers also engaged with, but advised and moved youths on who were causing annoyance to locals. We will continue to proactively patrol different areas within the borough. Please continue to report issues that impact your community via 101, crime stoppers, online reporting and 999 for emergencies."
The operation was welcomed by some members of the public but also triggered an appeal from others for action in other problam areas in the area. One person posted: "GMP Leigh, Atherton, and Hindley, may I suggest the Dootsons Park area of Butts Bridge is patrolled by plain clothed officers they are causing havoc and breaking in and causing damage to butts mill continously so unfair when the owner doesn't live close and is having to come out in the night."
Another posted: "Pennington Flash? Tha wants get down Mather Lane 3 or 4 times a day and I guarantee you’ll take about 30 people off streets there’s that many crackheads meeting in the same place."
One mother posted: "I am glad that you are dealing with the issues above, I find though that in Tyldesley especially there are nowhere for teenagers to go to hang out. I have a 14 year old daughter who enjoys hanging out with her mates (they do behave themselves).
"In the winter though, there is nowhere for teenagers to do this. It’s ok saying go to Leigh Sports Village or Wigan for the teen zones. There are no buses to either in an evening from Tyldesley. I have grown up as a teenager in Tyldesley and we had a youth club I could attend to hang out etc. Sadly there isn’t one in Tyldesley now."
But one local was unimpressed with GMP's efforsts, commenting: "So in other words you have stopped a few kids with a little bit of weed,took it off them and told them to be on their way. Otherwise you would of posted the offences and age of the people who you have stopped and arrested."
One local asked: "Are the Police aware of the anti-social behaviour that’s been happening over the last few nights in Hindley? Feral youths have been running amok terrorising residents. They’ve been in Hindley Leisure Centre masked up and up to no good, they’ve kicked a resident’s door in. Generally not behaving in an acceptable manner."
This week the Manchester Evening News reported how police had seized four vehicles and issued numerous notices after breaking up an illegal meeting in Redgate Road, in Ashton-in-Makerfield which saw drivers racing at "extremely high" speeds.
