Episode 1 Neighbourhood Blues

With unprecedented access,

Neighbourhood Blues follows the police in Somerset

as they take on the crimes that annoy us all.

-Don't manhandle me!

-Come over here.

Targeting antisocial behaviour, drug abuse and criminal damage,

beat officers and PCSOs tackle the problems that,

if left unchecked, could blight the lives of millions.

Armed with the latest cutting-edge kit,

they have the power to strike hard when needed.

Stay where you are!

-But just like the days of Dixon of Dock Green...

-Good evening, all.

..it's all about partnering with local people...

Brilliant.

..working together to sweep crime off our streets.

Police! Search warrant!

Coming up...

I don't know where he's going!

..the neighbourhood team chase a man through the back streets of Weston.

I was going this way anyway!

-DOG BARKS

-Go on!

And an officer has a scrape with a vicious dog.

The dog got on my boot.

He has dented my steel toe cap, so, yeah, he's quite a dog.

When we talk about drug raids,

it often conjures up images of inner-city estates

but the countryside isn't crime free and when the police have to do

a raid here, it brings a whole set of problems of its own.

Today in Weston-super-Mare, they are preparing for just such a raid.

While most of the time, neighbourhood teams work independently,

they occasionally need to call in other specialist units.

For today's raid, they are partnering with the catch team.

These are the go-to unit for large-scale searches.

We might get some more units help us search cos it's

quite a large area but we'll be searching buildings and open lands.

The team have a warrant to search a house in a sleepy village

half an hour outside Weston.

-Are we going to try the door or put it through?

-We'll try it.

People involved in drugs often have weapons or vicious dogs

to protect their properties.

Go! Go! Go!

You never know what will be waiting for you

on the other side of that door.

The team go in ready for anything.

-Can you guys go round the back?

-All right.

DOGS BARK

The place has a couple of guard dogs...

There's a good dog.

..who don't take long to make their presence felt.

-Go on!

-DOG BARKS

Before they can get to the front door, one of the dogs attacks Paul...

-Go on!

-..leaving officers no option but to taser it.

Taser! Taser!

DOG BARKS

Taser! Taser!

A sharp blast of 50,000 volts is enough to send even the most

vicious dog running for cover.

Oh, that was good timing, mate, well done.

That's still running around at the back apparently

but I think it's a bit quieter than it was before.

Obviously, it did bite me.

KNOCK AT DOOR

The occupant answers the door

and puts the dog safely in its kennel before the search can begin.

Is that dog secure, then, Andy?

For officers, tasering an aggressive dog is their last resort...

..but it's a very effective way of stopping an attack.

Luckily, Paul's not seriously hurt,

although the close encounter has left quite an impression.

Clamped on to my arm

and then I managed to get my foot in the way.

He has dented my steel toe cap, so, yeah, he is quite a dog.

It just goes to show the power of the dog bite, doesn't it?

And then my colleague tasered it.

It just I think incapacitated the dog long enough

and as you saw, he ran off.

Three people live at the house.

KNOCK AT DOOR

-Police!

-DOG BARKS

Two of them are home

but a second man who lives at the address isn't around.

We've got a warrant issued by the magistrates' court.

for this place, all the outbuildings.

The plan is we will be searching this house

and everything that sort of surrounds the boundary, if you like.

Is there anything in the house I need to know about that's dangerous,

illegal or anything like that?

-No.

-No?

-No.

-OK.

The team split up to start searching.

Kyle Byrne takes one of the bedrooms.

When we walked into the room,

obviously there's a very heavy smell of green cannabis.

If you look on the cabinet over there on the table,

it's just spread all over the place.

It isn't just green cannabis that the team are finding.

There's drugs paraphernalia all over this room. And that's not all.

This one here is cannabis resin.

It is a harder form of the cannabis.

They're obviously very relaxed at using cannabis in their own home.

We're finding it behind the bed as well

and no doubt we're going to find some more.

It's not long before Arthur Oak sniffs out something

a bit more substantial.

While I was checking the middle shelf, I had a smell coming off.

Literally got to the bottom shelf, picked up the plastic bag,

contained within it is what I believe to be cannabis.

Probably 500-600 grams here. So about a pound of cannabis.

So, yeah, probably hundreds of pounds,

this would be with intent to supply.

We'll bag that up and then it'll be tested.

Outside, there's a huge garden, which is full of caravans and outhouses.

All tricky to search.

Too much stuff! Obviously, heavy stuff, sharp stuff,

and we've got to go sifting through it ever so slowly,

just in case there's something hidden amongst all this.

It's a hoarder's paradise and a huge job for officers.

There's quite a large garden here, quite a large yard area.

There's ponds, there's some buildings

that are a bit more derelict and lots of building...boats, etc,

there's lots to go through

and we've got to make sure we don't miss anything.

Meanwhile, back inside,

a wobbly floorboard leads the team to a secret hiding place.

We've got tools that can help us with this kind of thing

which makes it a little bit easier sometimes.

But I like to look with my eyes, really. Nice to just look.

-Bit of a void?

-Yeah, there's some containers,

it says "sugar", like sugar and coffee containers.

Yeah. One floorboard was loose.

Looking under the boards,

Natalie Ranahan stumbles on some buried treasure.

It looks like jewellery.

Watches and jewellery have been carefully hidden in a gap

under the floor.

I'm happy with that.

News comes through that the third person

living at the address has been stopped by other officers.

There was a kilogram of cannabis in the car he was a passenger in.

He's been arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply.

There's been some cash found,

and bearing in mind the subject male's already been

arrested for possession with intent to supply,

we need to look a bit further now into amounts of cash,

other intelligence, obviously some drugs -

the obvious stuff.

With so much already found, this house is getting a full search

and that means breaking out the hi-tech kit to make sure

no hidey-hole is left unchecked.

This is a Sea Snake, it's just an endoscope that allows us to see

into voids where we can't stick our heads.

So there's a void behind this bowl here, the cistern, so it just

gives us the chance to look up there,

make sure there's nothing secreted.

In a rural community like this, a show of force

from the neighbourhood team sends a strong message.

The police are cracking down hard on drugs.

Paul's pleased with today's result.

We found some amounts of cannabis,

some very substantial amounts of cannabis.

Ultimately, we found drugs, and that's good, to try and put a stop

to that and let people know

that we are not going to stop working for them

and we'll carry on doing warrants and trying to get drugs off people.

No charges were brought against the homeowner.

The kilogram of cannabis in the car turned out to be the driver's.

And the watches found in the house were his property,

that he'd stored for safe-keeping.

The man and the woman at the address were charged with

possession of cannabis and both received police cautions.

Antisocial behaviour ruins people's lives.

Luckily, the police and councils

have plenty of powers to evict problem tenants.

But what happens when that nightmare neighbour owns the house?

Councils have recently been given new powers to tackle persistent

antisocial behaviour.

These closure orders allow them to evict people from their own homes

and ensure they stay away for up to six months.

In Bridgwater, Jen Atkinson has been working with the council

to get some problem residents evicted.

OFFICE CHATTER

It is new ASB legislation that we are using.

And I believe it's the first closure order

with these new legislations, certainly within Somerset,

I believe, possibly within the country.

Three serial offenders live in the house...

..with dozens of convictions between them,

ranging from possession of heroin to assault.

Now, with these new powers,

the police finally have a way to get them out.

We are just going to meet the sheriffs who have come to

serve notice on our Taunton Road address that we are hopefully

going to get an eviction order from the courts tomorrow for.

But we will just be going to prevent any breach of the peace,

make sure they don't get injured.

Hello! I'll be one of the ones coming with you today.

'It's taken the council two years to get to this point.'

They've logged every incident of antisocial or threatening

behaviour and already seized audio equipment twice.

But still the complaints come in.

Jen is taking no chances delivering this closure order.

She's backed up by Tony "Tex" Freeman, an ex-marine.

He is handy to have around if things go wrong.

Jen explains today's plan.

Me and Tex are going to literally be set up,

out of the way around that road. But should you require assistance,

-it's going to take us less than ten seconds to get you.

-Sure.

Hopefully it should just be,

-"Yeah, there you go, thank you very much, off we trot."

-OK. Good.

Let's try and stick to that one, shall we?

Yes! Let's stick to that one if we can.

If they answer the door with machetes and stuff, just...

-You know, I don't need to teach you to suck eggs.

-Sure.

-Disappear and I'll send Tex in.

-THEY LAUGH

Happy with that.

These new closure orders allow councils and police to close

places associated with disorderly, offensive or criminal behaviour.

Lovely job. Let's get on, then.

Once it's served, the council would be able to kick the tenants

and the owner out and board the house up for up to six months.

Tex has dealt with these guys before.

Last time, the gentleman involved was, you know,

he was up on the ceiling going absolutely ballistic, going mad.

But then we sort of had him calmed down and brought him

down within 25 minutes and you know, it's just a lot of bravado,

a lot of anger and stomping about, really.

Jen and Tex park up just out of sight,

ready to give the council sheriffs backup if they get into trouble.

Literally the address is just two doors down from where I am now.

We're just waiting here, the bailiffs are at the door.

Any moment now, we should get a result.

But it seems no-one is home.

Ah, well this is going to be a bit of a conundrum,

if they don't answer.

If they can't serve the closure order on one of the residents,

then tomorrow's operation will need to be postponed.

But just as they're about to leave, the homeowner returns.

That's enabled us, or enabled the bailiffs to serve the notice on him,

which really is our only goal for today, so...

At this rate, we'll all be going back nice and safe.

But the real test will be tomorrow, when the eviction will take place.

Tex is not planning to take any chances.

So, you just don't really know.

When you get reports that there's weapons in there, it depends.

Because once you come to the reality of turfing someone

out of their address, then it can be a different ball game

and it could spark them off

to do something that they couldn't normally do.

Later, we see what happens when Bridgwater's most disruptive

household finally have to leave their home.

Neighbourhood officers need quick reactions and sharp eyes.

But sometimes, it's fast feet that makes the difference.

He's legging it.

I don't know where he's going.

In Weston-super-Mare, Russ Millier

and Sergeant Colin Batchelor are in hot pursuit...

..chasing a man who bolted when he spotted a patrol.

Russ, who is it?

-Is he wanted?

-Not as far as I'm aware.

Weston's back streets and alleys are like a maze.

Two officers, a PCSO and two squad cars

are all on the hunt for the man.

But it's up to Russ to finally cuff him.

-You saw the police and done on.

-I was going this way anyway.

Right, take it easy.

-I'm with the officer and

-BLEEP

-now.

He is handcuffed and it's all in order.

Turn the blue lights off.

-Listen, I ran because it's

-BLEEP

-down with rain.

The man is carrying a set of golf clubs with him -

an unusual item to have out with you in the pouring rain.

I have just collected my bag and my golf clubs

because if I meet the kids...

Going for a game of golf in the rain, were you?

I was supposed to, yes.

-It wasn't

-BLEEP

-with rain a minute ago, was it?

Russ gives the man a quick search

and finds something suspicious in his pocket -

some expensive looking rings and women's jewellery.

-What's all the jewellery? Whose is all that?

-My friend's.

-Right.

It's not gold or nothing. None of it is gold. Have a look.

It's just what I bought from a charity shop for my missus and that.

The man initially said the rings belonged to a friend,

then claimed he bought the jewellery in a second-hand shop.

But that story soon changes again.

My friend got it for me.

-Which charity shop?

-I don't know.

One of my friends, Emma, bought it for me. I swear to God. Have a look.

It's not even gold.

-Can you just check?

-Check what?

-It's not even gold.

-It's irrelevant whether it's gold or not.

-Please.

-What am I supposed to look at?

-It's not even gold.

-It's just make-up jewellery.

-But it's not what you wear, is it?

No, but me and my missus have fallen out

so I'm trying to get her some nice bits and that.

So where have you bought it from?

-My friend Emma got it for me.

-Who?

-Emma. What's her name?

I can't remember her name. Little bird. Tiny bird. Emma.

What's her last name? I swear, it's just make-up jewellery.

Listen to what I'm saying to you.

At this time I cannot confirm whose this jewellery is

and where it's come from.

You haven't given me a good enough account to prove that.

-My friend, Emma.

-Listen.

-BLEEP.

Please, I haven't even seen my kids...

Listen to me, at this time,

due to the circumstances and everything you've got on you,

you are under arrest on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

Walking back down the alley, the team pass a wallet

Russ saw the man drop as he ran.

That's been dropped as well.

-That is nothing to do with me.

-Yes, it is.

-That's nothing to do with me.

-There is something in there by the look of it.

-Open it up.

The wallet is filled with bags of white powder

that look like amphetamine, an illegal drug.

-Can you please...

-You are going to be further arrested now.

-What for?

What am I getting further arrested for now? I don't understand.

The man now admits he did drop the wallet

but he claims he didn't know any drugs were in it.

-OK.

-BLEEP

-I've just collected all of this stuff from

-BLEEP...

I seen you discard it on the floor as you were running down the alley.

Yes, but I've only just collected all of that from my friend's house.

Listen to me. Stop all over-talking and listen.

You are further arrested

on suspicion of possession of a controlled drug.

Are you listening to what I'm saying?

Or is it going in one ear and out the other?

-I understand.

-OK. Get in there a minute.

But the man's not listening

and despite being under arrest his only concern is to get

a message to his ex-girlfriend

via a friend who's passing in the street.

Just get hold of her and tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't meet her.

I was on my way to meet her.

I just had a haircut and I was on my way to meet her.

This guy is nothing if not mouthy.

He's not even back at the station before he starts his confession.

I admit I bought a couple of grams of base for tonight.

Base is the street name for a strong form of amphetamines

which are normally swallowed.

-Why aren't you out dealing with....

-Because we're dealing with you.

Back at the station,

the man is booked in and Russ can have a proper look at the evidence.

On the foot chase, about 10 metres back from where I stopped him,

he threw this on the floor,

which is a black wallet

and inside, if you can just the see there,

were about four or five white wraps.

The man knows the game's up

and is finally forced to confront a few home truths.

Drugs is my mistress

and I always seem to pick them first over my family,

even though my family mean more to me than that.

I didn't think I would ever be stood here again, do you know what I mean?

And I've let my kids down again as well, right,

and that's what's the main thing.

As he admitted the amphetamines were his,

the man was given a caution for drugs possession

but the rings in his pocket really did belong to him

and, as unlikely as it sounded,

he really was off for a quick round of golf

which might explain the shorts.

Antisocial behaviour from neighbours can make people's lives a misery.

Councils have recently been given new powers

to tackle persistent offenders.

For the first time, they can now evict owner occupiers

from their own properties for up to six months.

Back in Bridgwater,

Jen Atkinson's about to brief a large team of officers.

Their mission today to evict three persistent antisocial neighbours.

Just give you a little bit of background

of what we're doing today, it's an eviction for a closure order

which has gone to magistrates today under the new ASB powers.

The council are the lead for it,

we're purely there should anything go wrong.

Even though they're facing eviction,

the residents' behaviour hasn't changed.

One neighbour in particular has had all sorts of threats against him,

he did start kicking off last night, throwing stones at him,

threatening to kill him.

The concern is that the residents will be waiting

for the police to arrive.

Should they then refuse to leave, that's when our powers kick in,

hence why there's so many of us, all right?

The team head off, unsure about what sort of reception lies ahead.

Worst case scenario is we get there

and we're met by quite a lot of violence and...

So, there's obviously quite a high risk for injury

at this point in time, that's why we're taking a lot of people with us

to hopefully subdue any violence we find.

While yesterday was all about keeping a low profile,

today is a show of force.

Officers want the residents to see them in numbers

and leave without a fuss.

Everyone is on edge as the bailiffs order the occupants to leave.

The bailiffs are just giving them 15 minutes to pack up

what they need to pack up for the time being, enough to survive on

and then we're waiting for boarding up to come and board the house up.

Having 16 officers in six vehicles has probably done its job.

They have arranged for accommodation for them

but they don't seem interested in that,

they've quite happily walked off.

All three residents leave without a fuss.

I'm assuming with all the warning

that they've been given that this is coming,

they've secured themselves accommodation for tonight.

Jen goes to check the property.

-Do you mind if we go in and just do a quick once...?

-Yeah, go ahead.

Inside, the house is in a terrible state.

The roof is leaking,

the ceilings are falling in and there's huge cracks in the walls.

The reason it's been closed down is a mixture of antisocial behaviour

and, as you can see, it's not really fit for human habitants.

This is the bathroom/kitchen.

The window doesn't close and hasn't closed for a long time.

That's been like that for well over a year

so it's allowed all sorts of water in.

And there's anti-police graffiti on the walls.

"Kill the bill dead." That's a bit mean, isn't it?

The house is in such a terrible state

that even without its residents, it's affecting the neighbours.

Terraced house so a roof that's falling down

and had lots of water damage in could affect houses either side

so it gives the council a chance to come in and inspect it

with their team and make any decisions they need to make.

Councils have had these new powers to hammer antisocial behaviour

since March 2014.

As the boards go up on the doors and windows,

the residents of Taunton Road have months of peace and quiet

to look forward to.

Most of the people locally within the direct neighbours

have obviously been affected greatly about what's been going on

for the last six-eight months that we've been trying to help them with,

so their reactions have been really positive

and actually it's seeing the relief that they know that

somebody's listening to them, that somebody's helping them,

that someone's trying to improve their quality of life.

-Hiya, you all right?

-Good afternoon.

When Tex isn't acting as backup in evictions,

he's found patrolling some of the most deprived parts of Bridgwater.

He's spent years working with local residents

to help regenerate the area.

Three and a half years ago, approximately,

I raised £12,000 to put a garden area

and change the sort of derelict area into a nice little garden

for the residents so we're going to go and have a look at that.

Bridgwater's canal runs underneath the garden.

Before this project, the land was derelict

and the area suffered from antisocial behaviour and neglect.

Cos there's a lot of flats there, not many people have got gardens

so it's really to give them a nice area that they can use and sit in

on a nice sunny day like today.

Now the garden has become an integral part of the community.

It's wonderful and you actually see people just sat here

eating sandwiches at lunchtime, enjoying themselves, which is great.

Tex has worked around the area for 13 years

and getting this garden funded is one of his proudest accomplishments.

The council paid for a commemorative plaque

in honour of this achievement.

Now Tex has arranged for a group of local schoolchildren

to paint another mural on the last blank wall.

Yeah, nice boat, some ducks, some swans, trees,

bridge, towpath, boat.

Yeah. Think it'll brighten it up.

The first mural was designed by a local child

and today's artwork has been created by another young budding artist

who won a competition at school.

Time to unleash Bridgwater's junior Picassos.

We need to get the basic... the block colours on.

So that's going to be the river first,

the sky in the background and the paths.

The competition winner, 12-year-old Madeline Rossiter,

is on site, seeing her design brought to life.

Surprised and happy because there were lots of other good designs,

so I didn't think that mine would be chosen.

Yesterday we came and drew it on

and today there's more of us here to help paint the design.

The area looks a lot better now because it's got two murals

there from people from Haygrove School that have come to paint it.

Blob it right on.

You don't have to be delicate with this, we've got loads of space, OK?

Speaking with Tex and being out with Tex today,

he just knows so many people.

-Shall we do a dance or sing?

-If you like.

-All right, what shall we sing?

-# Gee... #

I don't know!

It's good to have that feel that when you are in this community,

you've got that trust in someone that you can just go to,

it's not just it's the police force and it's a bit scary,

it's a real community spirit.

-She said, what do you think of me?

-Oh, he's lovely! He's lovely!

You want anything done, he'll sort it out for you.

-I'll give you that £100 later on, OK?

-Ooh, that would be nice!

Yeah, without neighbourhood policing, this just wouldn't happen.

It's fantastic, you know, this is what it's all about.

Not just brightening up the area but getting the kids involved.

Time for Tex to flex his artistic muscles.

Let's hope I don't mess it up.

HE LAUGHS

No, they're good, they're good. Look, we'll just build them up.

I'm loving it. I'm just a bit conscious I'm not very good.

I don't like the early ones, I'm going over them.

-Good mixture of colours there, good tone.

-Thank you, miss.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Out of ten, I'd give you an eight.

What can I say? I'm made up.

As the painting nears completion, it's causing a stir with residents.

Yeah, you living the dream?

No, I live in the flat now!

-Nah, I said, "You living the dream?

-What?

Not where you live! "Live in a flat!"

Living the dream.

-You all right?

-Yeah, are you?

-Yeah, not too bad.

Time to put the finishing touches and it's job done.

Fantastic, innit? Absolutely brilliant.

Makes it all worthwhile so, yeah, really chuffed.

Really chuffed with it.

Right, big smiles. Lovely.

The neighbourhood police teams are dedicated

to making our streets safer and more peaceful places.

Join us again next time.