For the first time I can remember, I found myself in the back of a police car on Friday night. It’s OK – I was on the side of the good guys. Beating crime and anti-social behaviour is very much a partnership activity these days. It isn’t about just the Police or just the Council. It works best when the different organisations come together effectively.

As part of that, councillors are invited to join the police and see what happens in these sorts of operations. (Police come to some our meetings too, though I can’t help thinking they get a raw-deal excitement wise).

I turned up to Cheadle Heath Station at 6pm and spent the evening being expertly hosted by Mattie, who’s job was to find us interesting things to see without us getting in danger. (Our job was just to do what we were told – much easier).

A reporter from the Stockport Express and two other councillors were also out with the police in the evening.

We had operation Airborne in the south (mostly around Hazel Grove last night) and operation Vortex in the north (Reddish, Brinnington).

A few different activities were happening.

Most pubs have responsible landlords, who want to see the police and actively invite them along. They don’t want trouble-makers annoying the regulars and they’re very happy for the police to put in a show. That was the situation with the first call of the night at a pub near Hazel Grove.

A later call was more serious. A pub known for causing trouble and breaking licensing rules had tens of police sweep in. Drinkers were checked by the police sniffer dogs and allowed to leave after checking. Where the dog sniffed drugs, people were searched and treated appropriately. (The dog will detect anyone who’s recently had drugs on them, but of course the police can’t act unless drugs are actually found).

In Reddish, another pub was being visited for the second time. Last time, a drugs dealer had been arrested after being found with drugs in his socks and pants, so the police wanted to make clear they were still watching it closely. However, this was a more relaxed approach. The sniffer dog went around checking but, unlike the previous place, it was a more friendly, low-key approach.

We then drove around Cheadle & Gatley just taking a look for any problems (it was all clear, but if you saw a police car in the Oak Road area of Cheadle at around 12.20am, that was us).

We also had a visit to the CCTV control room for Stockport – something which gave me a good deal to think about and I’ll write in more detail another time.

It was certainly different to my usual Friday evenings (sadly not out at pubs and clubs these days – more usually at a meeting or at home with the family). But it also gave me a lot to think about with how the different agencies can work effectively together to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime as effectively as possible, and whether there are powers we should be using better.

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