Episode 20 Neighbourhood Blues

Neighbourhood policing has come a long way

-since the days of Dixon of Dock Green.

-Good evening, all.

From inner-city estates to suburbia, this new generation

of community police officers are on the front line.

Their aim is to develop a stronger bond with the community,

crack down on the crimes taking place on your doorstep

-and formulate fast action plans to take down the criminals.

-I said no!

I said yes.

In this new series of Neighbourhood Blues,

we go to the Humberside Police region

and get exclusive access to 12 teams of Neighbourhood Police Officers,

as they tackle the problems blighting local people...

-No! I don't care!

-Hey, hey!

..and rise to the challenge of making the streets a safer place.

-Coming up...

-Police!

..the Neighbourhood Team crack down on the crack houses...

-I'll say what I want, when I

-BLEEP

-want!

..the spectre of teenage drinking rears its ugly head...

Do you know where you are?

-No.

-Pardon?

..and the motorcycle menace who decides to cut and run.

See you later.

Neighbourhood policing is all about taking residents' concerns

about crime where they live to heart.

Any complaint is listened to carefully and the police are

prepared to respond with a strong show of force when it's needed.

Nowhere does this hit home harder than

when they go after people who are turning a residential area

into a magnet for others looking to hang out and take drugs.

It's been said that an Englishman's home is his castle,

but for the residents of one block of flats,

their castle has been turned into a magnet for drug dealers and users.

All manner of undesirable people have been seen by tenants

going in and out of certain flats in the block.

In addition to this,

the whole building has begun to descend into total squalor.

These tenant photographs record the urine,

blood and faeces that have covered the communal areas.

It makes getting through your front door a gut-wrenching experience

and is a heartbreaking example of how drug abuse can destroy lives.

These photographs have been a trigger for the Neighbourhood Team

to take action.

They've gathered information on two properties in the block

that are suspected drug dens and a major raid awaits.

We're going to do a drugs warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act

in relation to recent intel, relating to class A drugs and cannabis.

There are numerous visitors that may or may not be present

when we get there.

We've got 15 or so names, to be quite honest.

The Neighbourhood Team prepare to execute a warrant that will

hopefully go right to the heart of the problem.

Drug users, all sorts of people, are frequenting flats within this

block of flats, leaving faeces, needles, spoons, drug paraphernalia.

The big red key makes swift work of the locked door.

-Police!

-Police! Stay where you are!

But is anyone at home?

-Clear!

-Police!

Two people are immediately arrested,

but one swiftly takes umbrage at the unexpected police presence.

-My

-BLEEP

-flat! Get out!

My flat! Get out!

-We're not swearing at you, are we?

-You keep a civil tongue with us, OK?

Listen to your friend.

They're officers.

Trying to calm his friend down,

the man seems only to add fuel to the fire.

-No! I couldn't give a

-BLEEP.

-My

-BLEEP

-house! I'll say what I want, when I

-BLEEP

-want!

-Just calm it down, fella.

-Sooner you lot

-BLEEP,

-the better.

As the search begins for suspected Class A drugs,

evidence of drug taking is immediately apparent.

There's obviously use going on in here, so...

The needles would tend to suggest that.

Dog man's just clearing some of the stuff before he brings his dog in.

Cos he don't want his dog to get stabbed by a needle.

One, I do not do needles.

Two, I've had a friend staying here and he's not here now.

All right.

The sniffer dog goes to work,

immediately alert to the aromas in the room.

An overturned mattress brings to light a number of needles

and syringes.

-Got them?

-Yeah.

Super.

There's plenty of paraphernalia around.

There's certainly been some drug use.

There's loads of interest from him.

But he hasn't nailed anything down, so we'll move on to the next room.

Police can apply to take over a property

and close it down for at least three months if they have

reasonable suspicion it's being used as a class A drugs den.

Crime scene investigators' photographs provide

a portrait of drugs-dominated life in the flat...

There's three needles, which were in the cistern.

When I took it off, they fell into the sink.

..contributing to the visual evidence that will be put in front

of the court.

In here, there's an uncapped needle. Plastic bags and things, which is

what they use to wrap the drugs in, with the knots.

There's bent spoons, there's casings from needles

and things like that that are just laid about the place.

It shows continuous use of drugs, really, drugs paraphernalia.

Maybe not so much dealing from the address,

but certainly drug use at the address.

Medium to long-term now,

we will be looking at liaising with the council,

tenancy enforcement on the address, crack house closure,

from our point of view, with a view to shutting the address down

entirely and stopping the antisocial behaviour problems that go with it.

Before any class A drugs den can actually be

closed by the police, a tenant has the opportunity to

give his side of the story and challenge the seizure of their flat.

But will this man attend his court hearing and fight for his home,

or will the closure of this so-called crack house get the go ahead?

Job done. Slight damage to the door, but nothing that's unrepairable.

Is the tide about to turn for the residents of this building?

We find out later and follow another raid in a second flat

in the same blighted block.

-Police!

-Police!

Teenage drinking is a problem in the UK, with almost

half of teenagers admitting to have tried alcohol before they are 16.

And the problem, when it comes to girls,

is feared to be escalating at an alarming rate,

with teenage girls more likely to get drunk in the UK

than almost anywhere else in the world.

And it's a problem that can be found to strike at any time of day

or night.

We've had a report from a member of the public that there's

a female laid out unconscious.

PC Nikki Cammiss arrives at the scene, moments behind an ambulance.

-Do you know her?

-No.

No grown woman.

Unfortunately, this is a teenager, apparently out for the count.

Do you know where you are?

As the paramedic checks her out, Nikki

and her colleague Mark's mission is to get in touch with her family.

Quick search of Whisky One Five. She's approximately 14 years of age.

Can you just run her through the system,

see if we've got an address for her?

But trying to find out where the girl lives proves to be

an unexpected hurdle.

-Where does she live?

-I don't know. Somewhere like

-BLEEP.

Her mobile phone contents should be able to enlighten everyone.

All that's needed is her password.

What's the password for your phone?

But the teenager seems way too far gone to assist the police.

It's better out than in. Although the password remains elusive.

It's important that a family member be found, otherwise the

hospital won't be able to release her when she's ready to leave.

One of her friends has a bit more light to shed on the situation.

-So where does her mum live?

-Her mum is in Leeds.

And she now lives with her sister in Wansford.

-Am I allowed to go with her?

-Sorry, it's not my decision.

It's up to them. Can you please try your phone again, please?

Yeah, I will. Course I will.

The trouble is, the battery's now gone down on her phone.

I've left her for, like, half an hour, an hour...

How can she be your best friend and you don't even know where she lives?

No, right, we go to school together and that.

She said that she were coming through on the train.

So, that's what we've done, and then all of a sudden,

she's turned out like this.

I'm a police officer. I need to try and help you.

I need you to tell me your pass number of your phone,

so I can contact family.

Is the girl capable of helping the police yet?

What's your password for your phone? What's your password for your phone?

MUMBLES Pardon?

MUMBLES INCOHERENTLY

How do you spell that?

She was completely comatosed.

She'd wet herself, she was that intoxicated,

and just being constantly sick. She can't communicate with us at all.

And at the minute,

we're really struggling to find any family for her.

Her friends, her so-called friends, don't seem to know a lot about her.

They go out drinking bottles and litres of cider,

not realising the sort of effect it's going to have on them,

thinking that they'll be OK, and it's the same for me,

one minute, you feel fine, and the next minute, you're drunk.

Back at the station, the girl's friends have vanished

and it's left to Nikki to track down the teenager's home.

Hiya, it's Nikki Cammiss, police officer. Hiya.

I'm wanting to trace...

We've had a log this evening with a young 14-year-old

heavily intoxicated, that she's had to go to hospital.

That'll be brilliant.

Thanks a lot. Bye.

We ring the emergency duty team and it goes through to a call taker,

she'll take the details and somebody will ring me back.

See what they can find on their systems. Fingers crossed.

The police track down the man who supplied the alcohol

and he was fined £90 and given a penalty notice for disorder.

Police have raided a suspected crack house den

and applied to the court to take possession of the flat.

-Police!

-Police!

-I'll say what I want, when I

-BLEEP

-want!

Has the tenant persuaded the judge that the seizure isn't justified,

or will the police be able to close it down and put a stop

to the antisocial behaviour that's ruining the lives of neighbours?

Heading off to meet the tenants,

the Neighbourhood Team are hoping to kill two birds with one stone and

execute a second search warrant for another flat in the same building.

The resident's determination to fight back has caught

the imagination of both the local newspaper and the general press.

A photographer from the local paper catches the action on today's

new raid.

-Police!

-Police! Stay where you are!

Clear. Clear.

Clear. Clear.

Clear.

It's not in there.

This time, nobody's at home, but with the telly on,

it looks like somebody might just have made a quick getaway.

-The bedroom... What else you got?

-Bathroom.

There's a kitchen off there. And that's your lot.

Just a bedroom that's a bit of a state.

Back at the first flat, it turns out that the tenant did not

appear in court to fight the seizure of his property.

With the matter uncontested, the police can evict the man

and take control of the property,

bringing the curtains down on its unsavoury life as a crack house.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

As ever, though, nothing's quite as simple as it might be.

You can't find the key?

Don't worry, let me assist you, then.

Do you want to move away from the door?

Are you stood well away from it?

-Hello, Mr

-BLEEP.

-Hello.

-I spoke to you last night.

-How are you? All right?

-Yeah, not bad.

I advised you to come to court this morning at ten o'clock.

You didn't turn up. So the courts have heard it in your absence

and we're now taking your flat into possession, all right?

-Now it becomes the possession of Humberside Police.

-Right. OK.

-Do you understand that?

-Yeah, right.

Now you're being served with a notice

and we'll escort you from the premises and we'll steel it back up.

-Do you understand that?

-Yeah.

-OK.

This flat has been used mainly as a place to go and shoot up the drugs.

They'll go to the flats higher up the building, get the drugs,

knock on this gent's door, he's quite welcoming, he lets them in,

they go and inject and they go on their merry way again.

Maybe do a bit of shoplifting to fund the next hit.

Quite a lot of the street drinkers used to come here,

sell their stolen goods.

Quite a den of iniquity, really, or it was.

-Are you done with this now?

-Yeah.

Would you like to follow us this way and we'll...

The police will now try to assist the man in seeking the support

of drug services with a view to him being helped and rehoused.

One crack house down, one to go.

There's not actually drugs there,

it's just how sensitive their noses are, picking things up.

The second flat is littered with yet more drug taking paraphernalia.

Basically they use liquid in there... They have...

They put something on the top, cos there's something missing from that.

And then they tug on that.

It changes substance in the water, I suppose, and they smoke it.

No added sugar, that's the healthy option!

Successfully closing one crack house

and raiding another sends a strong message that this

kind of antisocial behaviour will no longer be tolerated.

Neither male was arrested, as no drugs were found on the premises.

Despite no drugs being found, drugs paraphernalia, dealing bags

and scales were found throughout the flat, which gave the police

power to close it down as a crack house and the tenants were evicted.

Antisocial behaviour caused by teenagers used to account for

almost a third of complaints received on Humberside,

but hard work and tough action has seen this figure drop dramatically,

but there will always be a handful of youths

looking to break the law and sometimes run from it.

Off-road motorbikes raced around wastelands

and backstreets are a noisy and dangerous nuisance.

The team have taken several calls from neighbours who have

reported seeing a teenager

tearing around the streets on a scrambler, not wearing a helmet.

Sam Chandler and Jackie Creasy are on their way to investigate.

There's a possible stolen motorbike just on Chomley Street,

Bachelor Street area, which is the area we're just coming into.

Apparently there's a male on the bike, not wearing a helmet,

so we're just going to see whether we can find it

and maybe identify who the person is on the bike.

Yeah, we can hear the bike now.

The sound of the bike engine can be heard in the distance

and Sam and Jackie pick up the pace and head in its direction.

-They spot the bike and the lad and call him over.

-Stop where you are.

Stop where you are! Stop where you are.

Right, just come over here, please.

With the boy dismounted, Sam sets about getting his details.

He doesn't seem to be worried that he's in hot water with the police,

only what's going to happen to the bike.

Don't know yet. Got to do some checks on you.

For a start, you've got no helmet on.

-Sam breaks him the bad news.

-Looks like it's going to be seized.

Papa Victor Three Three Two XH.

The call is put in for a van to be brought to the scene

so the bike can be impounded, but there's another problem.

None of the details the boy is giving the police are marrying up.

A small group of boys has gathered to watch

what could be about to turn into an arrest.

Their presence provides the distraction the lad thinks he needs

and he legs it from the police.

Sam and Jackie give chase, but the light-footed lad is gone for dust.

And they get more bad news over the radio.

One of the onlookers has decided to take the seized motorcycle

for themselves.

Scouring the streets, they ask passer-bys

if they've seen the young fugitive.

-Up there.

-A kid in a blue top?

-But there's a small piece of good news.

The bike has been picked up by another police officer

on patrol, along with the man who took it.

He was just here with the bike when I got here, but...

Can't see. Yeah, think so.

Now Sam has had time to catch her breath,

she reflects on just what happened.

This is the guy that took the bike, yeah.

This isn't the runner, the one that was on the bike originally

made off down Queensgate Street. I've got all of his details.

Whilst I was waiting for a patrol, he decided to do a runner

and this guy that was stood talking to us,

he was with somebody else, and together,

they obviously took the bike and went off in the opposite direction.

Have you done a check on the bike yet?

Not on the bike, I've got no VRM, or anything.

I've done a check on the person with the bike.

He's got no licence, no driving insurance, he had no helmet on.

So I've got all his details.

The man in the car has plenty to say,

but none of it is much use to the police investigation.

-Just keep your hands still.

-Hey! I know who it was, but I'm no grass!

I ain't no grass. Aren't going to grass them up, am I?

He was in one of them back gardens when we both ran.

-I just ran, cos I thought,

-BLEEP...

As more officers arrive on the scene, Sam provides them

with all the information she's gathered on the lad who ran away,

so that they can go to his home and arrest him.

Obviously, this one has been detained,

and he was the one that took the bike, apparently.

-What an idiot.

-It's great, isn't it?

We're going to do some further checks, see whether the bike's been stolen or not.

And, at the minute,

we're just waiting for recovery of the motorbike, so it'll get taken to

a recovery agent and then we'll get VIB to look at the bike as well.

No charges have been brought against those involved in the incident

but police have stepped up patrols to ensure motorcycle menaces

are kept off the roads and the pavements.

It's every parent's greatest nightmare for a child to go missing,

and the Neighbourhood Team are always quick to respond to

any call from a worried mother about the whereabouts of their child.

More than 100,000 teenagers under 16 run away from home every year.

Many do so after experiencing problems at home or at school.

Whilst most return safely, others take to living on the streets

and are subjected to all the dangers inherent in doing so.

Today, in Hull city centre, the Neighbourhood Team have taken

a call from a worried mum whose 15-year-old daughter

has failed to return home after leaving the previous night.

The girl has a history of running away

but, this time, Mum is worried that the situation may be more serious.

We was dispatched to an address on Melrose Street just to do

an address check for a missing 15-year-old girl.

Jason has worked this patch of the city since he joined the force

eight years ago, so has developed good links with the community

who he hopes can help him with his search.

I like to be known.

I go into the local school, I'm known as PC Jason there.

Whenever they see me walking past, when they're in playtime,

they come running to the gate, shouting my name.

And a lot of the adults, when they ring up with a problem,

a lot of the time they will quote that they know me

and specifically ask for me to go around and try and help them...

help them deal with their problem.

His contacts in the neighbourhood have told Jason that the girl

is hiding out at a friend's home.

On arriving at the house, Jason doesn't expect his knock at the door

to see the girl come out and greet him like this.

Now, then, coming back?

Despite the girl's protests,

Jason is determined to return the girl to her worried mother.

Let's go jump in the van and we'll take you home.

-I'm not sitting in the back.

-I'm going to take you home,

just so she knows that you are safe.

And then can you drop me off?

Well, we're not a taxi, are we?

-Just one minute.

-These are the dog ones, these ones, aren't they?

All right?

-We've got

-BLEEP

-on board, but again she's asking not to be returned home.

She's asking if she can be dropped off at St Stephen's

and just let her mum know that she's safe and well.

Whilst the girl may seem totally unfazed by the situation,

as Jason arrives at the family home,

for Mum, it's a totally different story.

-I've got your daughter on board.

-Thank you.

-It's all right, relax.

-Is she safe?

-She's safe.

-Nothing's happened to her, has it?

No, she's absolutely fine. She's her normal self.

The girl's mother hasn't slept all night

worrying about the whereabouts of her daughter.

I just can't get a grip of her.

I mean, she's not abused, she's not neglected.

She was saying she wanted to go stay with her uncle or something

-last time I was with her.

-She knows she's in trouble.

It's now time for Steve to take the girl in.

Let's go inside.

-Mum, please.

-Let's go in and talk to your mum.

The team now decide it's time to give the girl a good talking to,

not only to highlight the stress she's causing her mother,

but also the dangers out there on the streets.

My main concern is that once you're out there, at 15,

you don't realise how dangerous it is.

All sorts of things can happen to you out there, all right?

Not a problem.

On returning to the station, Steve reflects on the problems that

families face when it comes to youngsters running away.

It would appear that...

-..BLEEP's

-got some friends who are of a similar mind,

and they're basically going to other people's flats and houses,

missing appointments for school,

just generally not adhering to... some sort of regime, shall I say.

And that was basically debrief.

She's deposited safe and well with Mam now.

The Neighbourhood Team will continue to provide the family with support

and be on hand should they experience

any problems in the future.

All in all, quite a good morning.

Whenever teenage lads pass their driving test

and win the right to their first set of car keys, the police can be

sure to always find a few looking to show off to their friends.

Over in Humberside, a clamp-down has seen these hot rodders

all but driven from the roads.

But this doesn't mean that some lads wouldn't go to any lengths to find

a patch of land to show off their driving skills, or lack of them.

Tonight, Richard Bastiman and is making a drive-by

of a well-known spot that boy racers are known to frequent.

When he sees a set of headlights on getting out of his car,

his suspicions are confirmed.

There's a lad in a motor down there, but he's not burning rubber.

He's stuck in the mud.

-Is this the road?

-No.

-Whose car is it?

-Mine.

-Yours?

-Yeah.

-Just... Just put it through the system.

The car licence plates are run through the police computer

whilst Richard takes a closer look. But it's slippery going underfoot.

-My God!

-Yeah, I wouldn't go down there!

So, have you caused all of this, then?

No, as I say, that was there before.

This isn't the first time a car's fought a losing battle here,

as plenty of other churned up tracks indicate.

I'll be straight with you. The problem you've got is,

and I appreciate your vehicle's stuck,

but, you know, you've been technically causing harassment and

distress with your vehicle by doing whatever you've been doing on here.

-You shouldn't be on here.

-Yeah, I know. I mean, now I wish I weren't.

This is a place where people come to walk their dog.

It's not appropriate for doing stuff like this.

What I was doing was, I was doing a bit of light off-roading.

And I came over here, I see this hill,

I tried to get out and it's just a bit too boggy, really.

The car got stuck. We've been here a good hour just trying to get it out.

And you guys came along, thought you could save us and...

Apparently not.

Right, I'm going to need to speak to you in my car.

And any thoughts he had about the police coming to his rescue

are dispelled when he's asked to step inside the police car.

The lad could see himself charged with what's known as

antisocial driving behaviour, which could lead to points, or even a ban.

I'm now going to report you for being off-road in a vehicle

and any other offences disclosed, do you understand?

I don't want to be harsh with you, but, you know... It's a bit silly.

A formal warning will be issued tomorrow

when a proper interview can take place.

The challenge now, however, is getting the car back on the road.

The only car that drove past in the hour was a police car.

And to do this, he needs to put in the call to someone

who's none too happy with the news.

Someone arrives on the scene with a 4x4 and a tow rope to haul

the boys' wheels from the mud and onto the road.

ENGINE REVS

The car may be out of the mud but, for the lad,

he's not out of trouble.

When he gets home, he not only has to face the music,

but he also gets another visit from the Neighbourhood Police Team.

Obviously you were off-roading, so that is part of the section 59.

It goes on the system for a year against you and the vehicle.

If you were to drive like that again,

we do have the power to seize your vehicle.

If you sign there, we'll give you a copy of that.

But the police are satisfied that the message has gotten through

to the lad, and he's sure to be more responsible

when he gets behind the wheel of his vehicle next time.

By the look of him, I think he's...

he's had a right good telling off from his mum as well.

So I don't think he'll be doing that again.