Police News – Rochdale East

Wardle Junior Blast visit Rochdale East Police

Inspector Pawson: “Firstly we would like to say: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of the team at Rochdale East.”

Christmas Cheer

On Thursday 18 December our officers and staff were treated to a visit from Wardle Junior Blast, a brass band made up of children aged 8-11 from the feeder primary schools for Wardle Academy.

The children were absolutely fantastic and played various Christmas tunes; Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, ending with We Wish You a Merry Christmas and other popular songs like Let Me Entertain You, Super Trooper and When the Saints Go Marching In.

This has been a very busy year for them which has seen them performing at the prestigious Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and Rochdale Town Hall where they played the James Bond theme for Skyfall to an audience of 700.

Burglary

We have had nine burglaries for the week, these have been quite evenly spread out across the whole Rochdale East area. We have seen a decrease in burglaries in the Kingsway area over the past two weeks however officers will continue to treat this area as our crime hotspot. Below is a breakdown of burglaries on each beat:

Kingsway - 1
Kirkholt - 3
Castleton - 2
Wardle - 1
Smallbrige & Firgrove - 1
Littleborough – 1
Milnrow - 0

Just a reminder to ensure you do not leave your keys in easy reach of your door, offenders from one burglary this week have managed to reach through the letterbox and remove the keys from the door before using the keys to let themselves into the property to steal items.

News and Updates

Police have arrested more than 100 people in the first two weeks of this year’s Christmas drink and drug drive operation.

Between 1 and 16 December officers have breathalysed almost 3,000 motorists and 117 of those blew positive.

Thirty nine of those arrested were breathalysed following a collision.

GMP joined forces with emergency services and Drivesafe at the end of last month to launch ‘None for the Road’.

Officers have been conducting breath tests around the clock and are set to continue throughout the festive season.

Inspector Matt Bailey-Smith from GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “The dangers of drink driving are well documented yet more than 100 people have chosen to ignore this advice and make a very selfish decision to get behind the wheel after a drink.

“It’s impossible to guess a ‘safe’ amount to drink if driving, which is why we advise avoiding alcohol altogether and having ‘none for the road’.

“Christmas is a time for family and friends and the last thing they want to deal with at this time of year is the loss of somebody they love because of something that could have been so easily avoided.”

To report a drink driver contact 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.