Partnership initiative ongoing in Bury to tackle recent incidents of violence.

Following recent tragic incidents of violence in Bury, our neighbourhood officers have been working closely alongside partners at Bury Council to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour within Bury town centre.

Operation Heartbeat forms part of this multi-agency response and this dedicated operation will see an increase of high-visibility officers, including specialist officers, within the town centre over the coming weeks.

These officers, and colleagues from partner agencies, will actively be engaging with members of the public to provide reassurance and address any concerns or worries they may have. There will also be a particular focus on youth engagement and local authority youth services have already been conducting youth outreach work in and around Bury Town centre whilst on patrol with our neighbourhood officers and staff from Bury College.

Officers and partners will also be working with The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit - a dedicated unit that brings together the expertise of police, local authorities, youth services, health, education and schools, as well as other criminal justice partners to tackle serious violence.

This work will include collaboration with local colleges and schools on knife crime awareness and delivering inputs and events to young people alongside partners. Our neighbourhood officers are working in close partnership with Team Oasis - a youth navigator's service - to work with young people at risk of being victims of violent crime.

Chief Superintendent Chris Hill, of GMP's Bury district, said: "We're all deeply saddened by the recent incidents across Bury and our thoughts remain with the family and loved ones of those affected.

"I want to reassure the community that we are continuing to work closely with all our partner agencies to ensure we keep Bury and our wider community safe and free from harm. Recent incidents in Bury and across Greater Manchester have no doubt caused great concern and worry and I want to stress that we are here to listen and address those concerns.

"Knife crime can have devastating consequence and the public want to see police officers on the streets and challenging those who are causing these issues. We will be stripping policing back to basics and doing just that by increasing our visibility on our streets, using stop and search powers, engaging with young people on the streets and in schools, and ensuring the wider community are listened to.

"I would urge anyone within the community that has information, or suspects someone is carrying a weapon or is involved in criminal behaviour, to report it to us or to contact Crimestoppers.

"I also directly appeal to those carrying weapons to surrender them in our Forever Amnesty bins which are located at 12 police stations across Greater Manchester. There will be no questions asked and could potentially save further lives."

Councillor Tamoor Tariq, Bury Council’s cabinet member for children’s services, young people and skills, said: “We have all been deeply concerned by recent incidents and the tragic death of a young man. Any injury or loss of life is one too many, and our teams will be working with partners including the police to address youth violence and knife crime and reassure the public that we are doing our utmost to keep our communities safe.”

As part of our #ForeverAmnesty campaign to 'bin the knife' we remind the public that there is at least one amnesty bin at a police station in each Greater Manchester district.

We appeal for people to do the right thing, look out for each other and bin the knife; you won't be judged but you might just safe a life.