GMP Heywood Open Days welcomes over 350 local residents into the station

On Saturday 19th August, Heywood police station opened its doors to residents from Heywood and across the borough for its first open day in many years.

Sgt Matt Honey, from the Heywood Neighbourhood Policing Team said: "The day was a huge success and we had over 350 people come through the doors to meet the local policing team and learn about how the neighbourhood team and Greater Manchester Police protect local communities.

My team were supported by different GMP departments including Traffic/Firearms teams and we had lots of local organisations and charities including representatives from the Russell Foundation who we are working closely with us to reduce knife violence throughout the town.

I was pleased to see so many young people attending the event and I know many of them learnt a lot about policing. The feedback I have received from the local community is fantastic so thank you to everyone that attended.

When I took over the team in late last year, I promised that we would make better use of the station in Heywood. Unfortunately over the years and due to austerity it was decided to close the front desk and I know that caused great disappointment. That is something that is beyond my control, however I am determined to run more public events at the station. This summer we have already had successful Sergeant Surgeries and we are increasing the meetings we hold at the station. Watch this space for future events. Other teams in different areas are doing similar initiatives to ensure you have access to your local teams.

For clarity the Neighbourhood team are based at Heywood police station, although we are a small team we can be anywhere in the town within minutes. The same applies at Middleton station.

The station is also used by other teams who work closely with us to address local priorities.

Communication is very important to me, and this is something I am driving in the team. The bee in the loop service is an excellent tool that we are using as much as we can, please spread the word and sign your families, friends and neighbours up to it, it is a direct link to your local team.

There is some great work being done in Heywood jointly between the policing team and partner agencies. We are targeting offenders who are causing a lot of harm in the community and we have some exciting projects around youth violence and I'm sure will help tackle this problem. We have additional resources in the area on a more regular basis looking at other priorities like burglaries and traffic offences who are also working closely with my team.

We are not complacent and we will keeping pushing to do our best to address issues as the other neighbourhood teams are doing in their respective areas. Open days factor into my plan. I'm determined to give local residents more access to my team and i personally had some brilliant conversations with many of the visitors on Saturday.

If you feel like we are not addressing issues i invite you to speak with me personally, you can reply to me in bee in the loop or come to one of my Sergeant Surgeries, better yet ill be door knocking with local councillors in hotspot areas starting next month so speak to me then. ill look into any issues you have.

Thank you for your ongoing support"