Episode 8 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! You're under arrest.

-..and tackle crime head-on.

-Calm down!

-By engaging with people on the street...

-You and me always get on.

-Yeah.

..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.

BLEEP

Coming up... A foul-mouthed shoplifter gets taken down.

-Ah, you...

-Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

The Neighbourhood Team hits the jackpot

when they discover £30,000 worth of cannabis.

If you were to do this three or four times a year,

that's an awful lot of money to be making.

And disaster strikes as a car smashes into a house.

I went in to have some dinner,

sat down and I just heard this massive noise.

For convicted offenders, coming out of prison

and back into the community can be a tough transition.

The Neighbourhood Teams address this issue by providing information,

support and encouragement to those prisoners who have just been released.

Today in Bath, Neighbourhood Officer Adge Secker is on his way to

visit a young man who's just been released from prison.

Part of our role is obviously catching criminals and putting

them inside, but when they come out, making sure they don't do it again.

The trouble is some people just rebound from prison to

a bit of liberty and then back into prison and that's a life cycle

they've had for many, many years.

Visit over, Adge continues his patrol,

but it's not long before a call comes in.

Job at Costcutter just round the corner, someone has gone in there,

and has, um...picked up a can of...

or picked up some booze, can of cider, I don't know yet.

Refusing to pay for it and he's opened it up

and is drinking it in the shop.

So hopefully he's there when we get there.

A short walk later, Adge arrives at the shop,

but will the shoplifter still be there?

Good-oh. You still got that hairdresser's car, then?

Like most Neighbourhood Officers, Adge is well known in the community.

Hello, how long have you been working here?

-About three weeks.

-Have you? Nice to see you.

All right, what's happened, then?

I've gone all shaky now.

-He's not the guy sat out there, is he?

-Yeah.

-Which one? On the wall?

-Yeah, the young, skinny one.

-What's he done?

-He's got a can of Stella?

-No, he's got four cans of Red Stripe.

-He's not paying for it?

-He said, "I'm not paying for it. I need to get arrested.

"I want to be locked up again. I've got nothing else."

-Oh, for God's sake.

-I tried to talk him out of it.

It's not every day a shoplifter reports their own crime,

but apparently that's exactly what's happened here.

-Are you Wayne?

-Oh, yeah, I'm Wayne.

-Get the

-BLEEP.

-Get that TV...

You need to be paying for that alcohol.

-Right, you're under arrest for assault.

-I'm under arrest anyway!

BLEEP

-Look at this, that's what I wanted!

-Get off the wall.

Put that can down! Put it down now!

Put it down now, there's a good boy.

Get down there, drop that can.

-All right, then.

-BLEEP.

Stay there, exactly where you are.

If this gobby lad thought he could backchat Adge and get away with it, he was sorely mistaken.

I need a unit up, please, at Costcutter's.

On the hurry-up. One arrested for assault and theft.

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned,

-something which you later rely on in court.

-Argh!

-Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Keep yourself still, you're all right, won't you?

If I were you, I'd just keep exactly still, got it?

-I haven't done anything

-BLEEP

-wrong!

-Just let me stand up, man!

-BLEEP

No, because you're volatile

and I don't know what you're going to do.

Backup is en route

although there's little doubt that Adge has this situation in hand.

Do you understand me? Do you understand that?

-Please, man.

-No, you started this, not me.

Bizarrely, this lad WANTED to be arrested.

Stealing beer and launching an unprovoked attack on the cameraman

has brought him a ticket to the cells at Bath Police Station.

And he's still got plenty to say for himself.

Looking forwards at me...

I'm not looking forward at you. I'm looking at this camera right here.

-Don't be...

-BLEEP.

-Don't be such an idiot.

-Just calm yourself down, all right?

-Stop tensing.

You've put yourself in this position, so let us deal with it, then.

I was the one that called you up.

This is what yous lot don't understand, I called yous up.

-Yeah, well, thank you for that.

-So you can arrest me.

Now you've been arrested and all you're doing is complaining.

Yeah, because look at the way yous treating me.

What this lad's demanding is extraordinary.

It's a tragic set of circumstances

when a 26-year-old man feels that life behind bars is the answer.

He's only just come out of prison.

He wants to go back to prison because he's got no money,

he's got nowhere to live, he's got no food.

Um, so...in the state that he's in at the moment,

he thought the best way to deal with that was to go stealing.

He wants to go back to prison.

Earlier on in the day, I went to visit somebody that has just come

out of prison, who wants to stay out of prison.

So it's a vicious cycle, really, and that's what we deal with,

and fairly typical, frankly, of neighbourhood policing.

As misguided as the lager-throwing lout is,

he did go on to get exactly what he wanted

when he was given a 12-week prison sentence for theft and assault.

Cannabis farms are a big problem for communities across the UK.

The Neighbourhood Teams are constantly on the lookout

for the telltale signs that the drug is being grown,

but sometimes luck can have just as big a part to play

when it comes to clamping down on the crime.

Karl Bowen is travelling to an address in rural Somerset.

There's been a fire in an outbuilding

and the fire brigade are reporting that there's a cannabis farm inside.

The thing is, these cannabis factories can pop up anywhere.

People rent whole houses and convert them

to a cannabis factory or it could be something as simple as this -

someone just converting a small area of a garage.

It's indiscriminate.

Arriving at the address, Karl discovers that the firefighters

have already tackled the blaze.

It was in the garage of a remote house.

It looks like an electrical fault started the fire.

So we've got to wait for the electrician to come along

because obviously it was hot-wired, hence, potentially, the reason

why we've got the fire, OK?

Inside the garage are a number of growing lamps

and charred plant remains.

All clues suggest that this building has been used to grow cannabis.

Karl gets to work investigating the scene.

What we've got here, we're not sure at the moment who this

belongs to, so just looking through the litter, we've found

a couple of named addressed envelopes and some information that

has been sent to names of people who may be living in the property.

Unfortunately, there's little else in the charred

remains of the garage, so Karl turns his attention to the house.

There's washing-up in the sink which could

signify that there is people occupying the property.

We'll just have to make some enquiries via our computer systems

to see who we've got living here.

With no-one around to let him in,

Karl can only peer through the windows.

We don't know if this property is associated with the garage.

I mean, that could be a private let to somebody else

so we can't force entry at this time.

I am just a bit concerned because there are windows

open above which would normally suggest that there's somebody in.

They might be in a bit of denial at the fact that we're all out here

at the moment, so...

we'll have patience and we'll hopefully raise them soon.

A team from the electricity company have arrived and they're

worried there may still be mains electricity running to the garage.

This means Karl can get inside the house sooner than expected.

The electricity guys, they are a bit concerned

because the cable runs to the property.

Although their hand-held devices say there's no electricity there,

they don't always trust those so the best thing to do is

isolate it and unfortunately it means it's inside the property

so we're going to have to get in there at some point.

-Are you prepared to go through the window, mate?

-Yeah, yeah.

I don't think I'd fit.

-I think one of these guys is going through first.

-All right.

Bit size-ist, isn't it?!

Says one giant to another!

With the fire brigade on scene, and an open window,

getting into the house is no problem.

Find out later the incredible discovery the team make

when they search the premises.

As you can see there, there is a substantial amount in this one.

Street value wise, thousands.

Anti Social Behaviour Orders, or ASBOs, are issued by the police

to people who persistently behave in an abusive or disruptive manner.

For most people, receiving the police warning is

enough to keep their behaviour in check, but those who don't stick to

the terms of their ASBO can expect a visit from the Neighbourhood Team.

In Weston-Super-Mare, Steve Hanlon and the team are on their way

to arrest one of the town's more unlikely recipients of an ASBO.

Jonathan Eden is a wheelchair-bound man who has repeatedly

broken his ASBO which prohibits him from drinking in public or

entering certain parts of the town centre.

Jonathan, do you want to open the door for us, please?

There doesn't appear to be anyone home.

Although the silence doesn't last long.

Jonathan, just to save any damage to your door so you can come back...

< Well, that's you! You!

< That's you, isn't it?!

< You twit!

< You hate me and I hate you!

It's not a case that I hate you, Jonathan, it's just...

< No way! No way! No way! No way! No way!

< I'm not going to get set up again by you, you little fat twit!

So I take it that you're not coming out, then?

Absolutely no way!

Undeterred, Steve persists.

-Basically,

-BLEEP!

We'd much prefer that we didn't have to bash your door in...

So there's no way that we can resolve this with you today, then?

No, not today, no. Tomorrow, maybe, yeah?

OK.

I will give myself up tomorrow, yeah?

At the Neighbourhood Team's discretion, Jonathan has been

allowed to turn himself in at the station tomorrow.

But the next day, there's a problem, as PC Wayne Hughes explains.

It was our intention to deal with Jonathan

when he gave himself up to police at 12 midday today.

He subsequently turned up at about 10:30 this morning

at the police station, but when officers

went down to the main entrance to speak to him, he left.

Officers tried to find Jonathan immediately after

he left the station.

Where is he?

He's hiding.

But as there was no sign of him

they've now come to his home address.

Jonathan? It's Wayne Hughes from the police.

Can I have a word with you, please?

Can you come to the door, open the door for me,

so I can speak to you?

At first, it appears no-one's home.

Jonathan? Jonathan?

Can you come to the door, please?

But then the team are treated to a familiar greeting.

No way, Jose!

Jonathan, I need you to...

INDECIPHERABLE ABUSE

I need you to open this door, please?

No way!

And once again, Jonathan has no intention of opening up.

Jonathan, I'm going to give you 30 more seconds to open this door, and

then my colleague is going to use the enforcer to

force open this door.

This is absolute nonsense!

OK, well, just open the door, then, so that we can speak to you, please?

After a final warning, the team adopts a more robust approach.

We're going to use the enforcer now then, Jonathan.

Jonathan, where are you?

Hello there.

Thankfully for Wayne and the team, Jonathan appears to

be relatively sober, although he's denying any breach of his ASBO.

I've not ever, ever broken the Anti Social Behaviour Order.

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention, when questioned,

something which you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

With the repairmen en route to fix Jonathan's door,

the Neighbourhood Team are ready to head back to base.

Now we're off to Weston custody unit where Mr Eden will be dealt with

by the way of an interview,

and then a decision will be made as to what happens next.

Back at the station, Jonathan is booked in by the custody sergeant.

Mr Eden, how are you feeling today?

-Well, pretty

-BLEEP

-off, to be perfectly honest.

Clearly peeved that he's been brought here,

Jonathan is refusing to accept the allegations.

I was not inside the exclusion zone.

Jonathan, that's the allegation that's been made, all right?

Jonathan's persistent lack of co-operation can make dealing

with him a testing time for the Neighbourhood Team.

Are you going to answer the custody sergeant's questions?

What's the blooming point, isn't it?

I think it's true to say that when Mr Eden is under

the influence of alcohol and he's in a public place like the town

centre of Weston-Super-Mare, he is a problem to members of the general public,

and with him now in custody, we've prevented that.

Jonathan Eden was given a £25 fine for breaking his ASBO and

was released the following day, but it wasn't long before Wayne

and the Neighbourhood Team were paying him yet another visit.

Find out what happened later on.

-BLEEP

-me! You twits!

The Neighbourhood Team have been called to a fire

at a rural location. On arrival, they discovered the remains of

what looks like a cannabis farm in a burnt-out garage.

The electricity company need to access the nearby house to

make the power supply safe.

The fire brigade have climbed through an open window,

giving PC Karl Bowen the opportunity to have a quick look around.

As suspected, nobody's home.

But it doesn't take Karl long before he makes a discovery.

Oh, there you go...

Karl's found more cannabis processing equipment

in an upstairs bedroom.

What they seem to have set up at the moment is

what they call a drying room, so they are going to take out

a lot of the moisture that's in the cannabis to make ready for sale.

As you can see there, there's a substantial amount in this one.

Karl and the team have uncovered an extremely profitable operation.

Street value wise, about that much,

and that's a generous helping - it'd cost you a tenner.

So you look at all that lot in there,

thousands on that sheet, thousands on that, thousands on that,

thousands on that, thousands on that, thousands on that.

This cannabis factory is being shut down

and the entire crop is being seized and bagged up as evidence.

It's a great bust, but a rather smelly one at that.

It's a very pungent smell that gets stuck on the back of your throat

and it'll probably be there most of the day, I think.

What we need to do is firmly establish who resides here,

who's living at the address, who has control of the address,

that's the important thing.

Bagging up all of the cannabis from the drying room,

the crop is even bigger than they first thought.

Upstairs in the drying room there were seven shelves,

each shelf has now been bagged up into its individual bag.

I would say, approximately at this stage, there's probably

about £1,500 worth of cannabis in each bag.

As you can see, this is a substantial haul and if you were to do this

three or four times a year, that's an awful lot of money to be making.

It's a fantastic find, but there's still plenty of work

ahead before the Neighbourhood Team can get a conviction.

We'll get back to the station and start booking in

and start the process of getting the cannabis into the computer system

so it's stored in the correct way, and then we're going to start

doing some research as regard to trying to track down

the gentleman who lives at this address.

Oh, it stinks in here!

Further investigation revealed that the haul of cannabis was

just over 3kg with a street value of £30,000,

making the operation worth around £90,000 a year.

The owner of the house pleaded guilty to possession with intent

to supply and production of cannabis.

He was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence.

Earlier we saw how Weston-Super-Mare's

Neighbourhood Team have been dealing with a local disabled man.

He'd been repeatedly breaking his ASBO by drinking in public

and verbally abusing people.

This behaviour is disruptive in any community, but especially

in a small town like Weston that depends on its tourist trade.

-I need you to open this door, please.

-No way!

Awkward and uncooperative,

the team have already had to force entry to arrest him.

-Hello there.

-But just three weeks later,

the Neighbourhood Team need to bring him in yet again.

We're just about to go and arrest Jonathan Eden for again

breaching his ASBO, whereby he was seen at about 10:30 in the morning

drinking from a can of special brew lager.

We're going to go to his home address.

Hopefully he's going to be in, we're going to effect the arrest

and bring him back to the police station to be dealt with.

Because he's a heavy drinker,

dealing with Jonathan can be a lottery.

Jonathan, I need to speak to you. It's Wayne Hughes from the police.

The front door is still bearing the scars from the last time

the Neighbourhood Team were here, and if Jonathan doesn't open up,

then the door could be in for another battering.

Either you open the door up,

-or we put it through.

-This is an illegal eviction.

We're not evicting you.

-Right, thank you.

-This is an illegal eviction.

Jonathan, can I just come in and have a word, please, as opposed to

talking to you on your doorstep?

-Right, you know who I am, don't you?

-Yes.

Basically, I'm arresting you now at 10:25...

No, you can't!

..for breaching your ASBO on the 19th of May...

No, you cannot!

-..at 10.25am.

-I did not breach my ASBO.

You were seen by a colleague of mine,

just listen to what I have to say.

You were seen by a colleague of mine drinking in Baker Street from a can.

HE READS HIM HIS RIGHTS

Despite protesting his innocence, Jonathan is under arrest.

And he isn't particularly pleased about it.

This is absolutely ludicrous!

I'm just going to pop you in the back of the van, Jonathan, yeah?

This is absolutely impossible!

As they arrive at the station, he still can't believe his predicament.

-BLEEP

-Nora!

Jonathan is believed to have been drinking this morning

and it isn't long before Wayne and the desk sergeant

are treated to a torrent of abuse.

Jonathan's been seen drinking by a colleague in Baker Street

at about 10:25am on the 19th of May.

What's the date today, then?

29th, so about ten days later.

-BLEEP

-me!

..a prompt and effective investigation...

You twits!

..and bring him before the next available court.

-I can sue the

-BLEEP

-off you for this!

I'll have the whole lot of you sacked for this!

As you can see, Jonathan is belligerent.

He's quite abusive and that's the way

he presents to the public whilst he's on the streets of Weston.

Right, I need to search your pockets, then, can I do that?

Well, if you can find a pocket, you can search it!

There's one there, look.

Plonkers!

Have you got any back pockets?

-You

-BLEEP

-plonkers!

Can I get to your back pocket, please?

-I haven't got any... This is a prison

-BLEEP!

They don't have pockets in them!

OK. There's no need to raise your voice at me, is there?

Jonathan's outbursts are sticks and stones to the officers.

He's been warned on numerous occasions that it is illegal

for him to drink in public, yet he continues to break his ASBO.

You just want to feel my backside, you cretins!

And as he's taken to the cells, Jonathan is still seething.

You will pay for this, don't you worry!

Jonathan is belligerent, he is abusive this morning.

He has been drinking, albeit he's not as drunk as he normally is.

But his outbursts are quite distressing to the public

and obviously by taking him off the streets, then the public

aren't going to be presented with Jonathan in that state.

Jonathan was taken straight to the court from the cells

at Weston-Super-Mare police station.

He was sent home and later fined.

We will continue to monitor Jonathan over the next weeks

and months and again if he breaches his Anti Social Behaviour then

he will be arrested and put before the court.

Sure enough, Jonathan continued to break his ASBO

and received several more fines.

But his behaviour eventually caught up with him

when he was arrested for threatening members of the public with a knife.

He pleaded guilty, but this time the magistrates weren't so lenient

and Jonathan was sentenced to 18 weeks behind bars.

People don't just turn to the police

when their lives have been affected by crime.

Every day, the officers are called out

to all manner of extraordinary situations.

But no matter how unusual the job,

you can always rely on the Neighbourhood Team

to keep their cool and come up with a solution.

In Bath, PC Andy Abbot is on a blue light run to a rather unusual call.

We're going to an address in Bath East.

There's been a report of a vehicle that's crashed into a house.

That's all the information we've got at the moment.

As they arrive at the scene,

there isn't any danger of them getting the wrong address

as neatly parked against the front wall of one of the houses

is a silver Mercedes.

It's unbelievable.

Who's the resident that lives here?

With no sign of any casualties,

Andy finds the house owner, parish councillor, Margaret Johns.

She's lived here for almost 60 years.

-You weren't actually here when it happened?

-No, I was at an art class.

I've just been told and I'm completely on my own,

-how am I going to cope with this?

-I was here when it happened.

-Did you see what happened?

-Yeah.

-Let's get some details from you.

-Let me see if I can get hold of my son.

-We'll get something sorted.

I'm sure we'll be able to move the car for you.

Margaret was at her weekly art class

when she received a call from her friend to say what had happened.

Amazingly, it looks as though her house is relatively unscathed.

There's no major cracks that I can see in the wall.

Obviously, it will be for an engineer to come and have a look,

but it doesn't look to be too bad.

I think the plant pot has taken the brunt of it

and there's now flowers and soil everywhere.

It's quite incredible, really, that it's not done more damage,

or certainly visible damage than it has.

Margaret's next-door neighbour raised the alarm

when she felt the impact of the car as it collided with the house.

All I heard was the noise of it coming down the bank.

I just went in to have some dinner,

sat down and then I just heard this massive noise

and then I came out and seen the car.

Remarkably, the car's owner wasn't even in the Mercedes

when it careered into Margaret's house.

He'd been trying to push it up hill!

I broke down and it was blocking the road

so I tried to push it so that cars could get through

and, as I went round to pull the handbrake up,

it just rolled past me, up my foot,

hit the verge and I thought it'd stop, but it didn't, it crept over

and, obviously, when it got to that bank, it picked up real speed

and I couldn't stop it.

This man's learnt the hard way that trying to push a car uphill

is never a good idea.

Had Margaret been working in her garden,

the situation could have been a whole lot worse.

Thankfully, the only casualties were Margaret's hedge and some shrubs.

The new plants that I had put in are still there.

It's awful, the first thing...

I didn't even think about anyone else, I just thought, my garden!

Of course, you keep looking at it and you think,

"Well, he could have gone in the front door," couldn't he?

As luck would have it, the owner of the car

could be the perfect man to put right the situation.

I could come and help to repair your garden, if you like,

because I'm a landscape builder.

-I'll get the insurance.

-OK.

Could have been a lot worse, though.

Yeah, thank God you weren't at home, I guess.

Yeah, I'm so sorry.

The car needs to be towed back up the bank,

which will make even more of a mess,

so Margaret has called in her grandson Jake

to rescue some of her favourite plants.

I've just removed a few of the shrubs my nan wanted to keep.

There's not a lot to save, really, cos a lot of it's been flattened,

but just a couple of bits I've got up and we've put in a bucket

so that we can replant them later, really.

With the shrubs out of harm's way

and a pair of recovery trucks at the ready,

Andy can turn his attention to getting the car back up on the road

where it belongs.

With everyone at a safe distance

and two lines attached to the Mercedes for safety,

it's time to remove the oversized and unwelcome garden ornament.

As the Mercedes is pulled back up the bank,

it soon becomes clear that it hasn't emerged from this as unscathed

as Margaret's house.

CRUNCHING

There is obviously damage to the plants and a load of soil

spread all over the wall where the plant pot was smashed,

but actually it's better than we expected.

They've managed to take the car out successfully

without causing too much damage.

As no-one was hurt and it was just an unfortunate accident,

no action was taken against the driver of the Mercedes,

leaving the insurance company to pick up the pieces.

If you need to contact your Neighbourhood Team,

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

See you next time.