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Four years on, Operation Castle continues to see success in driving down burglaries

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Officers giving out crime prevention materials to members of the community
Officers giving out crime prevention materials to members of the community.

Greater Manchester Police has seen reductions in reports of burglaries as a result of ‘sustained investment’ in training, improved investigative approaches and distributing crime prevention products to victims and potential victims of crime.

Since its launch in 2012, Operation Castle has used dedicated burglary teams set up in local districts along with resources across the force to promote crime prevention, improve detection and public confidence as a result of attending burglaries. The former Home Secretary required police forces to attend every report of domestic burglary and Greater Manchester Police says that the approach it took during the pilot phase of Operation Castle showed what worked.

In the last two years, the force has charged and remanded 754 individuals for residential and commercial burglary. In the last 12 months, the force has seen the number of reports reduce by 3,300.

Manchester’s crime prevention team secured £66,000 to fund the purchase of crime prevention products including window alarms, door alarms, timer switches, fake TV strobe lights to make it look like someone is home to deter burglars, ultra violet marking pens, and property marking warning stickers. 

These have formed the basis of burglary packs (shown in the photograph above) given to victims to ensure that the correct information is gathered when speaking with the victim for the first time, ensuring the investigative teams have the right information to progress the case and secure justice for victims of crime.

Chief Superintendent Chris Foster, Greater Manchester Police’s lead for burglary, said that the team continued to work with the force’s Contact Centre to improve the operational response model.

“The sustained success is not just ring fenced to burglary, improvements have been seen across a wide range of neighbourhood crimes by improving how we investigate and solve crime, resulting in better outcomes for victims.”

Operation Castle seminars have been held across the force, which brings together learning from officers across different districts and other forces, to improve the way the force continues to respond to burglaries.

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