Sheffield North West

This month we have executed operations on Ecclesall Road, in order to deal with people using their hand-held mobile phones whilst driving. A frankly disappointing number of people were spoken to, but the tactic was very successful, and we are looking forward to continuing to crack down on those who put other people at risk by failing to drive responsibly.

Moreover, over the festive period, the team have been busy with Operation Break Limit Kilo. This operation combines the Christmas drink driving campaign and targets anti-social drivers/vehicles. This operation resulted in two arrests relating to driving whilst over the prescribed limit of alcohol/drugs. In total, we stopped 49 vehicles for document checks, and 45 of those individuals were breathalyzed. We conducted 7 stop searches, 3 of which were positive for Cannabis, leading to three individuals being interviewed and dealt with accordingly. A further individual was reported on summons for having bald tyres.

We will be continuing to do random check sites over the Christmas period in both Stannington and Stocksbridge wards and we will deal with anyone who drives whilst over the prescribed limit for drink or drugs and for any other offences that come to light. So please do not risk driving after drinking or taking drugs or it could be you facing a driving ban.

We have been relentless in disrupting drug supply and organised crime in our area.

Stop Searches
Over the last four months, over 100 stop searches have been completed. Stop searches are imperative to disrupting the everyday dealings and transactions of our local nominals and identifies those engaging in criminality in our area,

£200,000 of drugs off our streets
After receiving intelligence about a possible Cannabis grow, a drugs warrant was obtained and executed and over £200,000 worth of Cannabis was seized.

Between October 2021 and March 2022, we saw a significant increase in most serious violence in the Abbeydale Road corridor. This included a high number of firearms discharges along with 12 stabbing incidents. Due to the increasing demand and threat posed, Operation Train Kilo was formed.

For Sheffield this was about improving trust and confidence within our local community who were concerned due to escalating violence in this area. The team's hard work and dedication has excellent results and in a three-month period, the small team completed a number of stop and searches and arrests, and recovered a significant amount of drugs, weapons and cash all linked to organised crime prevention. This is a showcase piece of work for Sheffield that is leading the way in terms of practice across the force, and it’s made a significant difference in the community and to safety.

Furthermore, This month the team took part in Op Sceptre, which is the national week of action in relation to knife crime. This was a joint effort with the Hillsborough and Walkley team, coming together with Deepcar to effectively patrol the areas.

We use our Knife Arch technology at public places where there is a natural narrowing for people to go through. Communal areas in lifts have proven to be very successful. Explanatory leaflets help residents understand what we are doing, and the vast majority were supportive and helpful. Offenders display immediate avoidance behaviour. The smell of cannabis, knife alarm activation and such avoidance give rise to stop and search. We had 6 stopped and searched during a three-hour deployment.

Targeted areas included Stannington tower blocks, Brightmore Drive and Martin Street Flats

Over recent months our Deepcar Team have been tackling dangerous parking and driving at beauty spots in the North West of the city, particularly around local reservoirs. This activity was a direct response to comments received by the team via social media and has resulted in a number of fines and warnings being issued.

The North West team have been key in executing Operation Park Safe. Operation Park Safe is a multi-agency response to what local residents voted as their second highest priority in the North West policing area when surveyed in December 2021. The Broomhall PCSO team have been key to making this operation work and have together submitted hundreds of prosecutions and dozens of files.

PCs Simon Nolan and Jamie Beet who are the University police officers, were supported by the Broomhall team, in providing advice to students at the University housing fair about what to look for when they are searching for properties. We also took the opportunity to speak to landlords about how to improve the security of their properties, to make sure that it is a more difficult environment for predatory burglars. Burglary is somewhat of a theme this week, as one man was arrested and charged with a student house burglary in the S10 area last week. A male was arrested by response officers who saw that he matched the description of someone who had been disturbed breaking into a property, and when stop searching him found a hammer in his bag, and property from a burglary nearby.

The team recently acted on CCTV evidence of three males stealing a flatbed transit and an off road buggy from the university. We attended one of the suspects addresses and arrested him for the thefts. Also, there was the van involved and the suspect had the keys on him for the vehicle, which was recovered. House and premises searches were completed before the male was interviewed and bailed for further enquiries