Smashing targets and keeping Bury safe

Hailed a huge success, Bury district’s Operation Revoke ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ strategy has gone from strength-to-strength since launching in May 2023 and is now fully embedded into the town and is continuing to see fantastic results.

A direct result of the ongoing proactive work has meant the Moorside area was chosen for this due to presence of three embedded Organised Crime Gangs in the area, involved in drug supply and criminal exploitation. Due to the work of the team in disrupting these groups they are being re-mapped to reflect the lowering of the threat they pose directly to communities.

The sole focus of the operation is to adopt the Home Office’s mantra of ruthlessly pursuing organised crime, on this occasion in the Moorside area, which sees an area cleared of crime, maintained a hold over that location to prevent further criminal activity and then working with communities to build resilience in an area to make it safe and more prosperous.

Hitting its six-month mark this week (November 2023), the dedicated Operation Revoke team, supported by Operation Challenger, the Serious Organised Crime Department and North West Regional Organised Crime Unit have made a significant impact and dent into the organised gangs who were operating in the area.

Eye catching figures have reinforced officers’ commitment to rid the streets of criminality, with the number of arrests passing over the 100 mark just in the last two weeks.

During this same period the collaborative work have conducted numerous multi-agency operations, targeting mapped ‘high-harm locations’ and the obvious signs of Serious Organised Crime in the area.  

So far, totals stand at:

Arrests: 109

Warrants/Searches: 53

Vehicles Seized: 45

Drug Seizures: Street value of £1.7million

Cash Seizures:  £102,000

Additional work in intelligence and targeted activity has also shown results in charges being brought for serious offences with a number of trials due to take place soon.

An example of this, is in August  a male who was stop-searched was found in possession of a significant amount of cocaine received a sentence of six years for possession with intent to supply at Bolton Crown Court. The result a direct result of Operation Revoke officers using intelligence to target individuals engaged in organised criminality.

Another example from November, this week, was the targeted stop search of a vehicle in the Revoke area of operation that lead to the driver being arrested in possession of a large amount of Class A and B drugs; following a house search a firearm and ammunition were recovered along with other weapons, drugs and £20,000 in cash.

The work has also led to victims of exploitation being protected. Most recently, a boy who was known from the Bury Complex Safeguarding team was found in company with an older man believed involved in drug dealing by the Operation Revoke team. This person was found in possession of Class A drugs and arrested, the boy was safeguarded by the team and partners whilst the offender was charged with drugs offences.

Feedback from the community has overwhelming been positive with public and key partners supporting GMP’s work and helping to shape the activity of the team.

Work continues and doesn’t stop on Operation Revoke as it moves towards the ‘Hold’ phase of nationally adopted strategy and transitions towards a more partner orientated approach, with several more arrests and disruption activity planned over the coming weeks.

On the success in Bury, Detective Chief Inspector John Charlton said; “It goes without saying that Operation Revoke is having a huge impact in our local community and the proactive policing element of taking the fight back to the criminals and disrupting their activity.

“We hope the local community are starting to see the benefits of this and really showcases the best of policing. We’re acting on concerns from the public by targeting those who are intent on causing harm and fear by controlling their neighbourhoods, a key tactic on tackling this is responding to reports and acting on intel when we can.

“We’re really proud of the dedicated work our officers have achieved in such a short space for the benefit of the town and Bury as a whole and it is something we are determined to keep on top.”

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