Four months of Operation Venture sees 141 arrests and 47 weapons seizures as part of crackdown on violent crime

Operation Venture was set up in December 2022 as Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) answer to the threat of serious violence and knife crime.

The team is specially selected and ring-fenced to respond to serious violence and over the past four months they have roamed across Greater Manchester helping to detect and deter violent crime.

Since December 2022, the team has carried out 141 arrests and 175 stop searches where action was taken against the person who was searched. The team has also conducted 58 disruption visits – these are visits to habitual knife carriers to ensure they are complying with bail conditions.

A total number of 47 weapons have been seized and removed from the streets of Greater Manchester and 40 weapons sweeps have been carried out, where officers look to recover hidden or discarded weapons.

In April alone, the team saw a raft of impressive results, including a deployment in Bolton on 29 April, which led to the arrest of four men on suspicion of possession with intent to supply (PWITS) and the seizure of £1,000 in cash as well as a quantity of Cocaine estimated to be around 3 kilos in weight – with an estimated street value of half a million pounds. 

During a deployment in Trafford on 23 April, officers also sighted a group of males behaving suspiciously and following a stop-search arrested one on suspicion of robbery, being concerned in the supply of drugs and possession of an offensive weapon. A combat locking knife, a quantity of cash and three mobile phones were also seized.

At the start of the month on 5 April, officers were in Stockport carrying out patrols in crime hotspots when reports of a knife point robbery came in. A quick response saw three males arrested on suspicion of both the robbery and going equipped for burglary. 

As well as reacting to reports of violent crime and making arrests, the team are also continually building the intelligence picture around violent crime hotspots across Greater Manchester and have submitted a total of 260 intelligence reports to help map this geographically and ensure officers are sent to where they are needed most.

Operation Venture supports the work of the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – a multi-agency team that seeks to prevent violence by addressing the underlying causes. A key part of the work of the VRU involves educating those who might be at risk of re-offending and as a result of this the VRU commission and support a number of education programmes.

Operation Venture have made 50 partnership referrals into programmes to help re-direct offenders and prevent violent crime from occurring.

Inspector Jon Ezard of Operation Venture said: “I’m really proud of everything the team are achieving as part of Operation Venture. Reducing violent crime is a force priority and our officers are out there every single day enforcing the law and helping to keep communities safe.

“Sadly there have been a number of incidents over the past few years in Greater Manchester where someone has been injured or even killed as a result of violence and knife crime. Even one life lost is one too many and we want to ensure other families do not have to go through the same pain of losing a loved one.

“The results speak for themselves and I hope it sends a clear message that we will continue to step up our policing response to target offenders and we will continue to do so until they desist or we put them in jail.”

Not all of the work carried out by Operation Venture can be seen but there is a lot going on behind the scenes. If you know of a crime taking place or you have information that could help in our fight against violent crime and knife crime – including if you know of someone carrying a knife – please report it as soon as possible. We act on every piece of information and treat it in the strictest confidence.

You can make a report to GMP via 101 or the LiveChat function on our website: www.gmp.police.uk.

Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers also have a dedicated website which enables 11 – 17-year-olds to pass on information anonymously – this can be accessed through Fearless.org 

Always call 999 in an emergency.