A MASSIVE shake-up to neighbourhood policing in Bolton should mean more bobbies on the beat around town.

As part of the shake up, Sgt Peter Crowe has become part of Great Lever’s neighbourhood team.

Sgt Crowe invited The Bolton News out with him for a couple of hours on Monday afternoon, while he completed one of his first community patrols of the area.

“These patrols are about learning about the area and seeing what people see,” he said.

“I think there’s a sense of abandonment. People think we don’t answer the phone and some of the public feel as if we’re not there for them.

“So we want to work hard to find out what the issues are in certain areas.”

After attending a local community forum last Friday, it became apparent to Sgt Crowe that one of the main causes for concern was anti-social behaviour.

A number of residents and Cllr Madeline Murray highlighted Heywood Gardens as a particular place where this sort of behaviour is rife.

However a wet, cold and windy Monday afternoon did not seem to be very appealing to the youths who have been causing a lot of the problems.

Despite some remnants of past drug use, there was not anything to immediately spark any major safety concerns.

“You can see why they might see this is a good spot though,” Sgt Crowe said.

“There’s this corner which is quite well hidden and there’s a lot of escape routes.”

After speaking with residents and gauging how severe the problem is, Sgt Crowe vowed to keep his eye on the area before setting back off on patrol.

It soon became clear that Sgt Crowe felt very passionately about one aspect of policing that he believes has become something of a forgotten art.

“Stop search is one of the most effective tools we’ve got”, he said.

“The more stop searches we do, the more chance we have of saving lives.

“We just need to be more transparent in it and tell people why we’re searching them.”

He soon practised what he preached and pulled up alongside a teenager before getting out of the car and having a calm conversation with him.

Sgt Crowe stopped short of searching the boy but he suggested interactions like that are very important in building relationships between the police and the public.

He added: “I’ve always been a massive advocate of interactions. If you’re fair with folk, they generally respond quite well.

“He seemed like a good kid, he’s had problems before but he seems to have turned things around.

“Anything can drag someone into a life of crime. Some people do just want to do it but others are forced for whatever reason.

“We have to act quickly to get the people being forced to do it out of that world.”