Episode 13 Neighbourhood Blues

Neighbourhood policing has come a long way

since the days of Dixon Of Dock Green.

Good evening, all.

The new generation of community police officers have the

power to strike hard...

Police! Search warrant!

You're under arrest.

..and tackle crime head-on...

-SHOUTING INCOHERENTLY

-Calm down!

..by engaging with people on the street...

-And me and you always get on.

-Yep.

..the teams can identify and crack down on the crimes that are

crippling our communities.

They are clearly violent individuals.

In this series of Neighbourhood Blues...

Happy birthday.

..we're given unprecedented access to Somerset's neighbourhood teams...

I'm asking you not to street drink. Go somewhere else.

BLEEP

..as they battle to clear up crime...

-Stand still!

-Right, you're under arrest for assault.

..and sweep the criminals clean from our streets.

What?

BLEEP

Coming up - it's showtime in Taunton...

-We love the police!

-Love the police! Go, police!

-And Rod Stewart! Whoo!

..when a musical legend comes to town.

And the neighbourhood team in Bath find more than they bargained for.

You never know what goes on behind closed doors.

It's incredible.

In an effort to entice customers, some unscrupulous shopkeepers have

taken to selling counterfeit cigarettes and alcohol

at low prices. To the untrained eye,

these fakes look identical to the real thing, but tests have found

they can contain seriously harmful ingredients.

Trading Standards want to protect the community from these dangerous

goods, and the neighbourhood team are only too pleased to help.

Today, Weston-super-Mare's neighbourhood team are

joining forces with officers from Trading Standards and

Her Majesty's Revenue And Customs to carry out several raids.

The culmination of a 12-month investigation,

this multi-agency operation aims to crack down on the alleged sale of

counterfeit and illegally imported goods in some of the town's shops.

30 officers will be split into three teams.

Following an early morning briefing, the taskforce prepares to move out.

Gemma Harper is the lead police officer in today's operation.

So today, we're hoping to find counterfeit tobacco and

counterfeit alcohol.

It's dangerous, and we need to get it off the streets,

and Trading Standards are trying to do that by doing all their

undercover purchases, and that's what we're helping them with today.

It's thought that some of the shop staff speak Polish,

so the neighbourhood team have drafted in PCSO Jakub Pietroczuk to

make sure they know what's being said.

Me being there if they decide to speak Polish all of a sudden,

I might be the person to catch it out.

To prevent the suspects from speaking to each other,

or disposing of any evidence,

the first two raids are going to be carried out simultaneously.

Gemma's team is in position.

All they need now is the nod from Inspector Sharon Bennett's

team to say that they're also ready to go in.

Lovely. We are going, then. Thank you.

Let's go.

With word coming through that the other team are in position,

it's time to move in.

Hello there. I'm with North Somerset Trading Standards.

Where?

These are my colleagues, obviously, from Avon and Somerset Police,

and also from Revenue and Customs.

-Can I ask you, are you in charge of the premises?

-No.

-You're not.

-No, no.

-Right, OK, let me just take a few details.

And you say that you just work here, do you?

Yeah, I just help sometimes.

Right, well, that's the name we've got there,

but at a different address.

Gemma's team are at a local newsagent.

The woman behind the till matches the description they have for

one of their prime suspects.

However, the name she's giving is completely different.

The address is not known in our system at all, so I don't know if...

I don't believe there is a 16A.

Checks on the woman's details reveal that she's given them a false name.

If I'm honest with you, I don't think you're giving

me your correct details, cos the home address isn't coming up.

-Are you

-BLEEP?

-Yeah.

I'm going to arrest you on suspicion of being involved

in the selling of counterfeit goods.

-All right? Conspiracy to sell.

-What?

Because there have been counterfeit tobacco products

sold from this shop.

OK? And you're linked to it, so I'm arresting you for that.

-Why are you arresting me?

-I just said why.

Based on the fact that we've had sales of counterfeit tobacco

products from these premises,

we're going to carry out an inspection of the premises.

-Yeah, we have to seize your mobile phone,

-BLEEP.

Debbie?

With the woman under arrest, the search begins,

although the officers from Customs and Trading Standards don't

have to look far, before they find what they're looking for.

These are likely to be counterfeit.

-The health warning is actually in Dutch.

-Yeah.

It's either going to be counterfeit or an import, but it's illegal

to sell in this country, because the health warnings aren't in English.

They've certainly not paid the UK duty on them, so yes,

they're not legal.

This is going to be a lengthy search.

The suspected fake cigarettes can be identified by irregularities in

their packaging, but alcohol has to be inspected with a special light.

It's an ultraviolet torch.

The duty stamp should fluoresce under ultraviolet light.

One of the issues with fake cigarettes is that they can

have higher tar and nicotine levels,

which makes them even more dangerous than the real thing, so the team

are leaving no stone unturned, and they've even found a hidden stash.

Oh, very nice.

Above the tiles in the false ceiling, and we

found 200 Jin Ling hiding up there, so we're having those as well.

This particular brand of black market cigarette is thought

to be twice as strong as legal brands,

and packs seized in the past have even been found to contain asbestos.

With the evidence bagged up, it's taken away for analysis.

-Hi. Have you been in the back rooms?

-No, we've not checked there yet...

Meanwhile, at the other raid,

Sharon's team have hit a language barrier.

So, I'm just going to get one of my Polish PCSOs here.

Although she can just about understand what we're saying,

it'd be easier if we can explain in Polish what's going on.

Since there's a lot of us here, it can be quite intimidating, really,

can't it? So, if we can explain that it's nothing to worry about,

then we'll do that.

BOTH SPEAKING POLISH

This Polish shop assistant speaks very little English,

but with Jakub acting as an interpreter,

the team are able to eliminate her from their enquiries.

BOTH SPEAKING POLISH

I've just asked the lady if, because of the fact that there are

so many people in the shop, shocked her.

She said yes, then asked her if the fact that I was here,

being able to speak Polish reassured her,

if that was OK with her, and she said, "Yeah, fine."

Phoebe the spaniel has been trained to sniff out tobacco,

and is being sent in to help with the search.

She's had the two points of interest on the various floors.

You could see the amount of stuff that was there, and it's so intense.

But then, when she came back down into the shop floor area,

where the cigarettes are stored,

she's ignored the cigarettes that are on display,

and then she's indicated then at another location behind the counter.

Phoebe might not have had any luck finding hidden tobacco products,

but officers from Customs and Trading Standards have seized

several thousand cigarettes from the shelves.

A large quantity of packaged cigarettes.

Find out later what happens when the teams'

next wave of raids reveal the biggest haul of the day.

In Bath, a drugs raid has taken place just outside the city centre.

It's now Kevin Williams' job to keep locals in the loop as to

what's going on in their neighbourhood, so he'll be

paying a visit to the estate where the raid was carried out.

Out of courtesy,

we let the neighbours know exactly what's going on.

Brings to their attention what's been found.

Going to print this off now, and we'll do a leaflet drop.

To get himself up to speed, Kevin's first port of call is the

property that was raided earlier this morning.

Martin Holliwell is one of the officers looking after the scene.

We forced entry into this property here,

under the auspices of the warrant.

If you follow me, you can see.

The occupant of the flat came to the front door.

He was obviously quite shocked. We'd just woken him up.

When the team entered the flat,

it didn't take them long to find what they were looking for.

When we pulled the curtains away from his airing cupboard,

we were confronted by a sight that we see, I'm afraid, all too often.

We found that he had a whole little production line going.

We've got plants that are ready for harvest.

They go for the buds at the top of the plant.

We've got 27 plants at the moment.

It's quite a haul, but that isn't all the team has discovered.

To maintain the correct environment for growing cannabis requires

a lot of power, and officers suspect that the person who lives here

has been helping himself to electricity.

A wire has been fitted to bypass the meter.

We're awaiting the electricity board

to come out to make the area safe, and then we have

colleagues of ours that are going to come away and take the plants.

He's been arrested, taken away to the station.

Growers of cannabis go to great lengths to conceal what

they're doing, but there's one thing that isn't so easy to hide.

So, the smell can give you away.

In this instance, it did, so people will install vents.

Unfortunately, the vent opens out over the front door,

so it was a bit of a clue.

Neighbourhood teams rely on intelligence from locals,

and without it, this raid might never have happened.

You never know what goes on behind closed doors. It's incredible.

A man later pleaded guilty to producing cannabis.

He was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.

The local community can rest assured, knowing that

the neighbourhood teams are fast to respond when criminals are

operating in their area.

In Weston-super-Mare, the neighbourhood team has

joined forces with officers from Trading Standards,

and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, to clamp down on the sale

of counterfeit and illegally imported goods

in some of the town's shops.

Hello? It's the police.

It's absolutely tons and tons of booze.

Not only are these products known to be dangerous, but their low prices

mean they're also forcing honest shopkeepers out of the market.

Very nice.

So far, the team have already raided two shops, and seized hundreds

of packets of what they believe are fake cigarettes and tobacco.

Officers are now at the home address of one of the key suspects,

where they have made yet more discoveries.

Wayne Hughes is part of the team who carried out the search.

A large quantity of cash,

which has been seized from the house behind us. We...

It's been seized because it's believed to have been

proceeds of crime, and then here in this large bag,

we have what we believe to be counterfeit cigarettes.

Because they're counterfeit they've usually got

unknown substances in them, which can be harmful.

The owner of one of the shops that was raided earlier has arrived,

and is being brought up to speed on the allegations that he's facing.

Actually, it's my first business, and so I don't know much about that.

You can answer all these questions...

-If you come with me, we can go back to the police station.

-OK.

Meanwhile, Wayne and his colleague, Jack Roth,

have been called to the final location of today's raid.

We're off to a shop in town...

It's only me. I've just got to go on an arrest...

..and that's in relation to Trading Standards officers found what

I believe to be a quantity of counterfeit tobacco or cigarettes.

As Wayne and Jack arrive,

it turns out that this could be the biggest haul of the day.

As you can see,

we've got a large quantity of packaged cigarettes in boxes,

which have been found at the rear of the shop.

If you compare it to an actual genuine one,

as we did this morning at the previous premises,

the actual design on the box is just subtly different,

and there's certain little bits of writing on there that are

missing, which shows that they're counterfeit.

I'm arresting you for being in possession of...

-Oh, yeah?

-..counterfeit goods.

How much money's worth is there here, then? In the boxes. Roughly.

About 23,000 cigarettes, we believe,

and two and a quarter kilos of rolling tobacco.

So, with the sort of tax and the cost of the product,

how much are we looking at? Sort of retail value.

Probably round about £6,000 to £7,000 in revenue.

With another suspect arrested and thousands more cigarettes seized,

today's operation is complete.

The majority of the cigarettes that were seized have been

confirmed as counterfeit, or illegally imported.

The woman pleaded guilty to four labelling offences,

and was fined £93.

The owner of the property where the counterfeit cigarettes were seized

pleaded to eight offences, and was given a 12-month community

order, and ordered to pay more than £500 in costs.

The owner of the second shop pleaded guilty to five customs offences,

and was given a community order, and ordered to pay more than £2,000.

No action was taken against the man in the shop.

The flexible nature of modern neighbourhood policing means

that the team have to be prepared for anything.

Along with their community duties,

they are sometimes called upon to help patrol events like large

football games and protests, where tempers may fray,

and hostile situations can erupt.

Today, Jack Roth and Inspector Sharon Bennett will be embarking on

the rigorous four-day course that is essential in becoming

a public order trained officer.

The training is to sort of allow us to deal effectively with

public order situations such as football matches, protests,

large violent disorders,

which thankfully doesn't happen all the time,

but just in case it does, obviously,

we need to be prepared and trained for those types of situations.

Policing large crowds wearing heavy protective clothing is

physically demanding work.

Before the day's training begins,

the officers face a gruelling make or break fitness test.

It's not very challenging. Everyone should pass.

Sharon may be confident,

but the mood is tense as the team line up for the first test.

Any officer who fails to make the grade will be sent home.

Known as the bleep test... MACHINE BLEEPS

..the officers will have to run progressively faster to keep

pace with the clock.

..so, yeah, not too testing.

Whilst the inspector has barely broken a sweat,

Jack has found the test a little more demanding.

-Well done, Jack, you did it.

-Yeah, all right.

-Yeah, we didn't think you would.

-No,

-I

-didn't think I would.

I've got to get fitter.

Having passed the physical, Sharon and Jack head over to the

classroom, but not everyone was so fortunate.

Well done on the fitness test, first of all.

Those that didn't pass the mark have been sent away.

The session kicks off with a reminder of the potential

situations the officers could face.

The London riots saw situations

where the police came under attack from missiles.

Rioters were taking whatever came to hand,

and hurling it at officers, so the team are learning how to

remain focused, while being pelted from above.

Stay safe under your roof. Going in.

Once through the door of the barricaded building,

their next challenge is an aggressor with a baseball bat.

You know how it works.

We've got to come in and speak to you, haven't we?

When it comes to battling big blokes with bats,

first through the door Sharon can definitely hold her own.

By making the training as realistic as possible,

officers know full well what to expect,

should they ever need to use these skills on the street.

-You need to calm yourself down, all right?

-I am calm.

WHISTLE BLASTS

Oh, sweaty mess.

He was hitting those shields as hard as he could, bless him, but,

yeah, as soon as we got all linked together and we were able to

squish him into the corner, then it was a lot...

Felt a lot better.

There's no time to cool off.

These are the personal fire extinguishers.

In fact, things are about to get a whole lot warmer.

We're just about to have some petrol bombs thrown at us.

Forward.

Good.

Even though the officers are wearing fire retardant gloves and

balaclavas, this is still a very dangerous exercise...

..but it's one that is essential to their training.

At the moment, we're exposing the officers to petrol reception,

which is for two reasons, really.

The first one is to simulate what they may come up against

in the event of disorder where petrol bombs are used.

The other one is to give the officers confidence in the

kit that they're using.

And I think, when you actually experience it for yourself...

-Petrol bomber!

-..you do gain that confidence.

Today's been hard work, but really good fun, all in all.

A lot harder physically than I thought it was going to be.

The instructors have been really good, giving clear

instructions as we've gone along. I've understood it all.

Yeah, it's good fun. Really good fun.

Obviously, it won't be good fun in a real situation.

No-one wants petrol bombs thrown at them, do they?

No-one wants to be hit with baseball bats and what have you, so, yeah.

At the end of the day, we just want to go home to our families

and get home safely, and for everyone else to be safe.

It's been a hard day, but the team have had a real taste of what

they could expect to face when dealing with a hostile crowd.

But, for now, it's back to their neighbourhood beats.

In Weston-super-Mare,

both PCSO Nicola Barton and PC Jim Murray are responding to

different welfare calls about elderly members of the community.

Nicola is visiting the house of an elderly lady.

We've had a concern for welfare about

a 74-year-old lady that is not answering her phone,

and hasn't been seen, so we're going to knock on the door,

see if she's OK.

Her daughter has been trying to contact her for 24 hours,

but has been unable to get through.

It's always a bit nerve-racking going to these kind of jobs,

because sometimes you... Sometimes these things do happen,

and you come across sudden deaths,

which are not very nice for anybody, really.

Especially if you're first on the scene.

Nicola is trained to deal with every eventuality, good or bad.

Arriving at the address, her priority is to discover why the

elderly lady has stopped answering her daughter's phone calls.

This is the lady's house, who... She hasn't been seen.

DOORBELL CHIMES

There's nobody in the lounge area.

With no sign of the lady, Nicola might have to call for assistance.

In a different part of town, Jim Murray is responding to another call

from a concerned member of the community.

Well, there's a lady down there that's reported to be

a little confused, so we're just going to pop down there and

see if we can locate the lady, and see if she needs any help.

Weston-super-Mare has over 50 residential care homes for

the elderly, and it's not uncommon for a resident to become

disorientated, and wander away from their familiar surroundings.

And... Oh, there's a lady down there. That could be her.

Afternoon.

Hello, then. How are you?

-And whereabouts are you living at the moment?

-Er, Weston-super-Mare.

Yeah, not a problem.

Jim quickly establishes that the lady is indeed from one of

the local care homes. BLEEP

I can take you back there, yeah, if you want.

-I've only got 40...

-I'm not going to charge you.

I'm not going to charge you any money, I'm not a taxi,

but I'll take you back there, just to make sure you get back safely.

It seems that this lady may have lived near here at some point

in her life, and she has wandered back to take a look around.

-Well, you've been out a while, then.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Are they missing you, do you know?

-No.

But you've missed lunch, haven't you?

Come on, then. I'll take you back, then.

Experienced at dealing with these delicate situations, Jim knows

that the best thing for this woman is a chauffeur-driven ride home.

Just mind your skirt there, right?

-Is this the right place?

-Yeah.

Let me go and speak to your staff, make sure you get home safely.

Come on, then.

Take care, now. Bye.

Every now and then, we do get residents that will wander off,

and perhaps go back to their original homes,

where they're from,

or try and make their way back to their original homes, where they

think they still live, you know, just due to the confusion, really.

But, luckily, this one's got back safe and sound.

That was a great result for Jim, but Nicola is still trying to

discover why a 74-year-old lady isn't answering her phone.

There's nobody in the lounge area.

-Hello, are you Helen?

-Yes.

Oh, your relative has just been wondering where you were,

because she hasn't heard from you.

-Which relative is this?

-Your daughter.

-Oh, right.

As far as I know, she hasn't tried to phone me.

Do you want to make sure your phone is...?

-Yeah, that's a good idea.

-..not off the hook?

See if you can get a ringtone.

-And then we'll go from there.

-I'll do that.

Nicola couldn't have wished for a better outcome.

The lady appears to be fine...

Look, there's an intermittent sound.

..which is more than can be said for her telephone.

You've got five new messages.

The phone appears to have been playing up,

and she's been missing her daughter's frantic calls.

It's high time that the girl's mind was put at ease.

Hello.

I gather you've been trying to get hold of me.

Since when?

Right. OK, then. Bye.

Happy that the lady is safe and sound,

Nicola can get back on patrol.

And you're going to phone BT to get the phone sorted?

-Cos I think there's something wrong with it.

-Yeah, I think so.

-Well, it's lovely to meet you.

-And you, yes.

-All right, you take care.

-Yes.

-That was really nice, meeting Helen.

It was really lovely for her to open the door,

and for me to find her all in order.

Today, the neighbourhood team in Taunton are facing

a slightly different task to the usual challenges of community

policing, because the world-famous singer, Rod Stewart,

is playing a concert at Somerset County cricket ground.

Although, as excited fans begin to arrive,

it would appear that Rod may have some competition.

-We love the police!

-Love the police, go, police!

-And Rod Stewart! Whoo!

One of the officers on duty today is Tony Wearmouth.

18,000 - just over - people attending the event.

Absolutely superb. Everybody is just in a fantastic mood.

This is all about community policing.

Can't wait for the music to start, personally.

Today is a huge event for Taunton, and the surrounding areas,

but for the neighbourhood team,

today isn't just about the concert, as in addition to policing

the event, they also have to deal with their usual duties.

There are a lot of police staff and PCSOs on duty at the time.

We're all doing roving patrols, looking out for Mr Criminal.

But the reality is that, on a day like today,

with so many of the neighbourhood team's

resources tied up at the concert,

opportunistic thieves may see it as a chance to help themselves.

Yeah, we've just heard on the radio that there's

a theft in progress close by to our location.

We're just going to walk down and see if we can get any more

details, or possibly, hopefully...

Somebody's... Just coming through on the radio now.

Somebody's stealing lead off a roof,

so we're going to go down and hopefully try and catch somebody.

A short walk later, Tony finds the address...

..and he may have arrived in the nick of time.

-Have you been up on the roof at all?

-No.

-Eh?

-No.

-Yeah?

-No.

-Oh, right.

We've got, erm...

These guys here, we don't know if this is the right area...

There's obviously some lead missing from up there,

but these guys were just...

..as you can see.

The lad's a tenant, but claims he has no idea how the protective

metal from the roof has disappeared.

This certainly isn't the first time that Tony

has had to deal with lead being taken from people's roofs.

Stealing lead is a crime, because of its high value, and the

weight of it, they take it to scrap merchants, and things like that,

weigh it in, and they get shed loads of money for it.

Looking at the property,

it's clear to see where the lead has been removed.

If you see where the, erm...

About a brick and a half up from the edge of the roof and the wall,

you can just see a bit of lead sticking out there,

and there should be a groove and lead all the way along there,

to keep the water from going through the roof into the building below.

Obviously, it looks like it's missing,

and also down the ridge there, or the gulley there, as well.

An allegation is one thing, but for a watertight case,

the neighbourhood team will need some evidence.

Around the back of the garden area,

we just found this box of lead, which, as you can see, is shaped

in the shape of the gulley that it's potentially been stolen from,

but looks like we've got our lead, and looks like we may

potentially have our man as well, so another good job done.

With all the evidence suggesting that this lad stole the lead, he's

placed under arrest and taken back to the station,

where he was charged with theft of lead.

When he appeared before magistrates, he was given a community order,

and ordered to pay £250 compensation to the owner of the property.

Job done, Tony and the team head back to the cricket ground,

where the concert is now in full swing.

# 19 years old and as sweet as she could be. #

Not everyone has been able to get tickets for the show,

so an added concern for the team are the numbers of fans who've

congregated on the riverbank next to the cricket ground,

where they can still hear the concert, and get into the groove.

Hello, ladies.

We're just surveying the riverside.

There's quite a few people down on the riverside.

We're just making sure that there are

no issues in relation to health and safety.

As a firework display brings the concert to a close,

today has been a success for the neighbourhood team.

We've had loads of thank yous from the public for our support,

so all in all, a very good night.

And as the fans emerge,

it appears that a good time has been had by all.

# We are sailing, stormy waters. #

And if you need to speak to your neighbourhood team,

then dial the police non-emergency phone number, 101.

See you next time.