Episode 2 Neighbourhood Blues

Policing in the 21st century has come full circle.

Good evening, all.

The old romantic notion of the bobby on the beat,

like Sergeant George Dixon 50 years ago, is very much back in favour.

See here!

A new caring force has been created that works in collaboration

with the community it serves, called the Neighbourhood Policing Team.

You're under arrest, OK? For assault.

SHE KNOCKS DOOR

Now the teams are in every local area of the country...

Get him! We've got a runner.

..cracking down on antisocial behaviour...

Stay here! Ow! Ahh! I've had enough.

..busting suspected drug dens...

ELECTRIC SAW BUZZES

GET DOWN!

There's a very, very large grow in this room. Jackpot!

..and laying down the law to crooks and criminals. Do as you're told.

I weren't even BLEEP driving it!

In this new series of Neighbourhood Blues, we're following

the men and women from the Humberside Police Force...

You're under arrest. I'm arresting you for being in possession

of a controlled substance. ..as they strive

to make our streets a safer place.

Coming up...

..the Neighbourhood Team gets tough

when suspected drug dealers set up shop in a local tower block...

GET DOWN!

..use their diplomacy to quell a family at war...

Do not come back today. You will be arrested.

She's smashed windows in the corner. She's off the rails, she is.

BLEEPING

SHE YELLS

..and crack down on cyberbullying.

I'm not laughing.

You're breaking the law because it's malicious communication.

One of the most complained about problems in a community is

widespread drugs use. So, when the Neighbourhood Teams

get credible reports of dealing, they move quickly to sort them out.

'This morning in East Hull...'

Sergeant Mick Stevenson is briefing his men for a simultaneous raid

on two flats in neighbouring tower blocks, which they

think are being used by suspected drug dealers.

So, this morning we've got two warrants to execute at the same time.

The two addresses are dealing heroin amongst other things.

We're going have to get in from where we get dropped off by

the plain vehicles, up to our lie-up point, without being seen,

and it all hinges around how good we are around at doing that.

There's a brand-new CCTV system, I'm told, in there, which is pretty good.

It'll show us who's coming and going and particularly whether there's

a lot of user-types coming, then I think that's the time we'll do it.

We'll just do both addresses at the same time.

It's vital the two entry teams hit the target properties

as speedily as possible, but it's going to be a tricky operation.

'The flats are high up in the tower blocks,

'and one of them has, reportedly, got a specially protected door.'

It's what's called a composite door and it's structurally very, very

strong and, on top of this, apparently this one's been reinforced as well.

The amount of time it takes for you to actually

get into the property, if they're getting rid of any evidence

that we need to gather, they've got a chance to get rid of it.

So, the entry needs to be done as quickly as possible.

Luckily, the police have got a few special tools for the job -

a big red key and what's known as the Rescue Blade, something normally

used by firefighters to get people out who are trapped in

crashed cars, but they'll only need it

if their "key" doesn't work.

This piece of kit...

which is a "ram-it" or a big red key...

Um, it can apply several tons

of pressure per square inch

when it's swung towards the door in the correct manner.

The police have an ally in the local council who've opened a

back entrance for them to use,

and given each of the two assault teams an empty flat in which

to establish base camps, but there's already been a problem.

One team's managed to get in on the scene, we think.

The other team, unfortunately,

were seen getting out the vehicles coming into the fire doors

at the back of the block of flats.

We can't do anything about that.

'The whole operation could be in jeopardy.

'The teams are going to wait and see how things develop.'

While they lie low,

Mick explains the problems drug dealers can cause in a community.

People coming into the flats,

they're getting their drugs from here, from the dealers,

but they're not going away to use them,

they'll go out onto the stairwells

and inject their drugs or whatever on the stairwells,

then they'll discard their needles and that in itself causes all kinds

of public health issues, particularly if there are young children.

They only need to pick something up to get a needle-stick injury,

and that could result in picking up

a contagious disease that will never, ever go away.

'We'll find out later if the operation has been compromised

'and what, if anything, is behind closed doors.'

When young people get in trouble with the police, their families

invariably share the consequences,

and family relationships can rapidly deteriorate.

When they do, the Neighbourhood Team often find themselves

picking up the pieces.

This morning, a woman has phoned the Neighbourhood Team with

concerns about her daughter.

The 19-year-old has just been released from prison

and has lashed out at her mother.

PC Nick Deacon, from Hull's Northern Neighbourhood Policing Team,

is something of an expert in defusing family tensions.

Somebody starts kicking off at the address,

just been released from prison, being very naughty.

The girl is out on licence,

meaning she could be recalled to prison if she misbehaves at all.

As a Neighbourhood PC, Nick works very closely with

Community Support Officers.

Today, he is partnered by PCSO Lucy Giles.

Nick and Lucy know most people on their patch

and the family they're going to see is no exception.

I've been a Neighbourhood Policing Officer now for nine years...

and my face is very well-known, and sometimes, by going

into a situation with a family, they're more receptive.

HE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Hiya. Hello, my love, you all right? Yeah.

DOGS BARK

It's Hannah. And where is she? She's out there somewhere.

Is she all right? Em...no.

'The woman is not injured, but her daughter, Hannah,

'is no longer around.

'The officers need to find her.'

Em...and a black jacket.

Romeo-two-two.

The row was over a PlayStation, which Hannah wanted to take.

PHONE RINGS

She's on the phone now.

Let me see. Hannah, my love, it's the police.

What are you kicking off at your mam for?

Yeah, but kicking off isn't going to get you it back, is it?

She's got marks on her hands where you've been hitting her.

When you've calmed down and she's calmed down, if you ring her

this afternoon, but don't come round to the address at the moment.

Nick takes a statement from Hannah's mum about what happened earlier,

but something else catches his attention -

the smell of cannabis.

Can I just say to you, there's quite a strong smell of cannabis in here.

Me son smokes it. Right, and does your son smoke it in here?

Me son smokes it. I don't have an issue with that.

We will sort that one out. Can I have permission to search

the house because of the strong smell of cannabis? Is he upstairs?

With the householder's permission,

Nick hunts upstairs to see

if he can find where the reek of cannabis is coming from.

Who's is this cannabis?

BOY: It's mine.

Have you been done for a cannabis warning before? Yeah.

Hannah's brother Jack isn't a first-time offender,

so he'll get more than just a warning this time.

I'll put you through the system,

see what we know about you. That's fair enough.

Jack's mother doesn't approve of cannabis smoking at all.

I don't smoke it. Never have done.

I think it's disgusting.

Nick is not letting Jack off lightly.

He's summoning him to the police station for a formal interview.

I'll interview you there, report you for summons,

deal with it that way, rather than you sitting in a cell all day,

cos it is pointless you sitting in a cell all day for something

that's worth three quid or four quid. All right. Thank you.

If you don't... You'll come for me. I will come and lock you up. Yeah.

The family have struggled to cope with Hannah's behaviour

and her mother admits that she uses cannabis as well.

She smokes weed. They all do. But that usually calms her down.

Usually... It does, but, when she ain't got it...

She kicks off, does she?

All right. Cannabis, to be fair, is endemic on the estate.

I could go into most people's houses...

..and somebody in the family, well,

I could probably go in every house, and somebody in the family smokes it.

Well, I've never smoked it. Neither have I, my love.

Me husband doesn't even smoke. And I...

Well, I used to smoke, but not cannabis. We don't like it.

We don't like it.

I hate it. I hate me kids smoking it.

Yeah.

I mean, don't forget, you can get into trouble

if he's using it in your house, though.

Well, they don't smoke it in here. It's a no smoking house.

To be fair, it smelt stronger in here... I know! Do you know what?

I had the pram and I pushed it in there.

I thought, "I can smell it in here." I know, I could smell it

stronger in here than I could out there.

She was sat in here. Was she? Yes. It might be on her clothes then.

Getting Hannah, one of nine children,

back on the straight and narrow is a thankless task for her mum.

I think that I've let myself down and let her down because I don't

think I've done it the right way, and this is why I blame myself.

But Jack, fed up with Mum blaming herself,

thinks Hannah should be more accountable.

She can't keep doing this to my mum.

My mum's fragile, she's an old woman, you know what I mean?

Hannah's like a 19-year-old, energetic...15st girl.

She's just like...she really does make my mum absolutely on edge

every time she comes.

Upstairs, Jack reveals the extent of Hannah's frustration.

Obviously, she's tried coming in here and smashing it and that.

She's smashed windows in the corner that we've put them

back in and all that lot.

She's off the rails, she is.

Even though she was hit earlier,

Hannah's mother doesn't want to press charges.

Meanwhile, despite being told over the phone not to come back,

Hannah has returned.

Hannah's come just requesting some clothes.

So that she can go somewhere else, hopefully.

With her clothes in hand, Nick's got a final warning for Hannah.

Do not come back today, you will be arrested.

As soon as you start kicking off here again, you will be arrested,

you will spend the night in the cells and go to court in the morning,

end of story. All right. All right. Take care, Hannah.

'Unless you are actually sat in the house and see what goes on,'

you don't know exactly what's gone on. Whether you believe one more than

the other, you have to deal with things absolutely impartially.

I think they're just trying to get on with their lives and,

obviously, if there's some difficulties there

with their relationships

it puts a strain on everybody.

Em, and it looks like it's not resolving itself quickly.

Em, but hopefully they'll be able to sort it out.

Family feuds are painful

and exceedingly tricky for the Neighbourhood Teams to sort out,

but, until it is, there's every chance things will get worse.

'Back at the tower blocks in East Hull,

'Mick and his team are still waiting for the right moment to

'make their surprise call on some suspected drug dealers.

'Time for tea and biscuits before the shock and awe.'

Two floors up, they were getting gear.

It was in there, that middle one. We'll have to wait and see, mate.

There's nowt else we can do.

'They're in radio contact with a colleague on the ground floor,

'who's monitoring the block's CCTV to see who comes in

'and out of the target flats.'

There's people on pushbikes and on foot attending the flats and,

obviously, a significant fact is they only stay for a very short time

and then leave, so it's just a case of trying to monitor that activity

and trying to pick the time that's best to execute the warrant to

get the best results.

We don't want all this effort to go...obviously, wasted.

It looks like the team's cover hasn't been blown.

'People are coming and going, and one of them

'is now right outside the front door.'

Basically, somebody's been seen to go into the middle block of flats

and, eh, very, very quickly go out of the lift

on the right floor for our target address...

back into...

back into the, uh, lift

and then he's put something in his mouth that we believe may be drugs.

Now, whether he's swallowed it or whether he's actually put it

in his mouth to then go and deal it somewhere else,

which is more likely, we're not really certain, but that person's

ironically ended up coming to the flat next door to our lie-up point.

Eh, we know he's there cos we can see through the spyhole

in the door that his bike's outside and he's gone into the flat.

So, we're just having to wait now and see what's going to happen.

At last, Mick has decided it's time to get going. Get your gear on.

We're on. Go! The forced entry personnel take no chances.

They're equipped for almost any threat they might face.

The two entry teams commence the operation.

But, unfortunately for the first team,

the reinforced door is living up to its billing.

Stop!

Mick and the second team have had an easier time of it.

POLICE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!

The flimsy door was a bonus, but the empty flat isn't such good news.

Unfortunately, ours, which, eh...

as you can see, is quite a sparse flat, really. There's nobody here.

Um, there is no obvious signs of any drugs,

although it does smell like cannabis.

Em, the search has taken us

very little time at all with sort of four or five staff.

Crucial time is being taken getting into the other flat.

BUZZING

GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!

It's time to get serious.

ELECTRIC SAW BUZZES

POLICE!

HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!

THEY ALL SHOUT

STAY DOWN!

STAY DOWN! STAY DOWN!

Two men are inside the flat.

As one is handcuffed,

the other is being caught, literally, with his trousers down.

I was on the toilet.

Hey, can I get dressed, please? Sit yourself down.

But the man's adamant he hasn't got any drugs.

Whoever's given you information, it's wrong, so search me house

and do what you want, there's nothing in here, I promise you that.

We WILL be searching your house. Rip it to bits if you want.

Do what you want. There's nothing in here, I can promise you that.

And the cops WILL search the house.

But what exactly will they find?

In North Hull, Hannah,

the 19-year-old told to stay away from her mum's house,

seems to have been involved in another family disturbance.

This time at her grandmother's.

PC Andy Derbyshire's at the scene.

There's been a bit of an argument outside, which is something

that Grandma apparently has heard

and when she's come in, it's all gone a bit wrong inside.

Because of the incident that's happened,

Hannah has been arrested for the assault on her mother.

She's also been arrested for an assault on her grandma.

BLEEPING

SHE YELLS

Calm down. Come on.

Step in the van. The sooner you get in, the sooner...

We can get away, can't we?

'Fortunately, Hannah's grandmother is not hurt,

'but she is shaken up a bit, so a friend is comforting her.'

She come today...

and then she went back to her mother,

she said she was going back to her mother's.

Then her mother come with her and they had the baby in the pram,

which is me great-grandson.

An argument ensued and Hannah made a grab for her baby nephew.

I was trying to get him back and was, like, scuffling

and I was a bit frightened.

I thought...

I didn't know what she was going to do with him. You know, cos she...

gets a bit violent with her mam and dad and I thought, "Oh,

"will she get violent with him?" I don't suppose she will,

but, at the time, that runs through your head,

so I was trying to get him off her.

'It's a stressful time for all of the family.'

INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION

It's the next day

and at the Orchard Park Neighbourhood Police Station,

it's time for Nick to interview Hannah's brother, Jack,

about the cannabis he was caught smoking.

It's a tiny piece of cannabis.

Probably just end up with a caution for it at the end of the day.

It needs to be dealt with cos we found it.

Jack has arrived with his dad, John.

Raising his unsettled daughter hasn't been easy.

We've had problems with Hannah, me daughter, for several years.

Em, we have had the police on several occasions and it

makes us out as though we haven't really brought her up properly,

but we have, cos we've brought another eight up with Hannah.

BABY CRIES

Go on, Jack. Talk to your baby.

We're done and dusted. Um...

Within 28 days you'll receive a letter through saying

if you're getting a caution or you're getting whatever. Yeah.

So, you take care, look after yourself, thanks for coming in.

We've sorted the issue out about the drugs.

Jack's been in and given us a full and frank admission about

the fact that the drugs we found in the house were his...

um, on interview.

I'll now produce the file for it

and we are currently going to stick that through.

There's a possibility he might just get a caution for it.

At the most, he's going to go to court and get a small fine.

Jack was given a formal police caution

for possession of cannabis...

..while his sister, Hannah, was charged with two assaults

against her mother and grandmother and received two community orders.

Still to come,

the Neighbourhood Team lay down the law to a teenager misusing Facebook.

Come on, guys. NAN: I'm not laughing.

You're breaking the law because it's malicious communication.

Despite wearing similar-looking uniforms,

Police Community Support Officers or PCSOs

are not police officers

and don't wield the same powers,

but they do provide much needed support

to their sworn-in colleagues, and

they're also able to deal with problems that

affect the quality of people's lives, like antisocial behaviour.

PCSO Lucy Giles knows nearly everyone on her beat,

old and young.

CHILD: Good afternoon! Good afternoon.

CHILD: Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

'Very few give her any trouble, quite the contrary in fact.'

The first time I met Lucy was at school in the assemblies.

She got introduced to us

and we just started to get real good friends with her.

In the assemblies I always say, "If you see me on the estate,

"say hello, cos I'm not here to..." Yes, we're here for troublemakers,

but we're also here to help people, and if they want to talk to us

about anything they can, so if I've got that relationship with them

they can approach me if they've ever got any problems as well,

so it's always good to sort of let them get to know me.

So, what do you like about North Hull?

What do you like about living round here?

I actually quite love it around here because, like, I have all my friends,

I have my family, I have my area down there that I can play on,

and there's my family over there and I have you!

Yeah, you've got us, the police.

So, you've got a lot of things to do to fill your time up.

'Lucy's been visiting local schools to encourage children to get

'involved in the local youth engagement competition

'called Lifestyle.

'The ones she's bumped into today are planning to enter

'and raise money for Cancer Research by doing a little Gangnam Style.'

We're going to be walking across the Humber Bridge in our onesies

and we're going to stop in the middle and do Gangnam Style.

Are you? Yeah. Can you do Gangnam Style now?

That one. You ready?

Oppa Gangnam Style!

ALL: Yay, yay, whoa, whoa...

ALL: Up, up, up...

Oppa Gangnam Style!

I thought he did that?

Oh, no. I can't do that.

Can I wear your hat?

Go on, then.

Don't go too far with it.

I like this area, you know, just...the girls we've just met,

you know, the younger ones, um, are always friendly

and like to speak to you. And then, obviously, you've

got your older groups and stuff, who aren't so keen.

People either love us or hate us, really. It's kind of a bit

like Marmite. They're either your friend or they're not,

depending on what they've been up to, really.

See you later, Lucy. See you later.

BOTH: Bye!

Whether you're blogging, tweeting or

simply checking in on the football scores,

the internet plays a significant role in modern life.

84% of the UK population are connected,

spending on average nearly 16 hours a week surfing the web.

Now, it's becoming an important tool

for the Neighbourhood Policing Teams too.

PC Carl Palmer is able to keep local residents in his North Hull ward

up-to-date with what his team are doing

on the Humberside Police website.

So this is where we say what we've done

and also any successes that we've had.

We also, importantly, advertise the fact of who's been arrested

and dealt with in court.

And here I've put down that on the 20th of April I'm running

a Community Policing Day, so it's a good way of free advertising.

We tell people where we are, what we're going to be doing

and also this, as well, it serves as an event

so people can tell us

what they think our priorities should be for the next six months,

so members of the public can have some input into what

we should be looking at.

While the World Wide Web helps make the police's job

easier in some ways, it has created its own problems as well.

Young people are particularly vulnerable online, and part

of the Neighbourhood Team's job is to educate them in how to stay safe.

Within Facebook and Twitter,

there's more than enough abuse to be going round and...

it shouldn't be there. I mean, especially with young children.

I've had experience of online bullying. It's not very nice

and no-one knows about it unless you tell an adult or someone you trust,

so I think they need to, like, make a rule about that or something.

Loads of people comment stuff like, "Kill yourself. Go die.

"Go slit your wrists." And stuff like that,

and I don't think it's right.

'Today, Carl is giving a talk to a class at a school in North Hull.'

Does anybody know what you would do

if you received any bullying messages on the internet?

Yes. Tell my parents.

Tell your parents.

Sometimes there's a button you can click and it sends a report.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

There's a button on the internet.

You will find it on most internet sites,

especially social network sites,

and it's a little button and it's called CEOP,

which is C-E-O-P, and it's all to do

about child exploitation and bullying on the internet.

So, if you get any messages that you don't like on the internet,

it's important that you press that button

so that it's reported to the proper people,

but also, like you say, come into school and tell the teachers

and also tell your parents about it as well.

Over a third of young people in the UK have been victim, or know

someone that has been a victim to cyberbullying.

Last year there were more than 1,700 cases of abusive e-mails,

tweets, and Facebook messages that led to prosecutions.

A teacher in a local school has alerted

the Neighbourhood Team in Bridlington to one such case.

A fake account has been set up by a girl aged...well, three girls,

aged between 11 and 13 in this name.

Um, and the photograph's been doctored, um,

with something quite rude on it.

We've been asked, because, obviously, it's out of school,

the school have got no jurisdiction, really, to try and police Facebook.

Um, and because there's various other bits of bullying going on,

which are now spilling into school,

that stem from this fake account, they've asked us just to go

and have a word with the girls at home in front of parents.

Um, you know, they don't think that their little Johnny or whatever is

capable of doing such things as setting up fake accounts

and being derogatory towards people.

Sometimes it's quite a shock to parents as to what's been going on.

When people are sat at home on their laptops in their bedrooms,

they've got no protection with friends or anybody,

and they're absorbing all the malicious wordings and, um...

things that the offenders are doing to them

and, you know, sometimes it sends them inwards on themselves

where even parents aren't able to, you know, to help them. Yeah.

And that's the worry we have, is the effects that they have on,

you know, like, on the more vulnerable ones.

PCSOs Gerald Quinn and Andrea Humphrey are hopeful

that a face-to-face discussion

will make the suspected cyberbully see the error of her ways.

Come on, guys. NAN: I'm not laughing.

Are we all right to pop in? Come in. Yeah.

BLEEP hasn't got us involved at all, it's Mrs BLEEP at school.

Because of the concerns of where this could lead.

The crime of causing harassment, alarm and distress

is not necessarily what your intentions were,

it's the intentions of how the person's been made to feel

that's received something, that's upset them... Yeah.

..from actions that you've started.

You're breaking the law, really, because it's malicious communication.

Who was the contract name?

My nana. Nana. My name.

So, when you're writing things on your phone

and your nana's got the contract,

who might we be wanting to speak to? Me.

Right, so you're putting her at jeopardy, aren't you, really?

Of being, one, having her phone seized and,

two, being spoken to by the police for malicious communications.

I hope that it's going to stop after us speaking to you all today.

I'm going to deactivate it. Yeah, I think that's the best thing, really.

I think you should've done that already.

NAN: I hope that you've learned your lesson.

Are you listening to me? GIRL: Yes.

It seems that Andrea and Gerald's visit has had the desired effect.

You know, I do think that it does highlight,

to parents and to extended families,

the dangers, really, and the miscommunication

that their children are actually using the forum for.

Earlier, we saw Sergeant Mick Stevenson

and his team raid two flats in East Hull.

One proved to be empty. They've just finished their search of the other.

One of their finds suggests that some visitors might not be welcome.

Potentially, anybody who comes through his front door, or who

he don't want to speak to, or maybe not too keen on,

that could be your reception.

Um, a nice big blade, just inside the bathroom door.

In the end, the rescue blade made light work of

remodelling the front door.

The problem we've got is it's a really substantial door

in a really flexible soft frame, which means,

when you're hitting the door, it's the frame that flexes, so

you don't really get a lot of joy with it, so the last resort was our

rescue blade and, as you can see, it makes a mess, but it gets us in.

A large quantity of what looks very like drugs has been found, however,

Mick is well aware that it might not be what they were hoping for.

What we've got so far...

em...

..are these three bags here,

we don't know what it contains... obviously, some kind of white powder.

It remains to be seen what that is.

And then this bag of brown powder,

which was found in that box of tea bags

when the lad's been locked up, he said, "I found it."

Well, if he's found that and it is heroin, then, you know,

if it is, then that could be worth between ?8,000 and ?10,000.

And then, so far, we've got this cash as well.

The vast majority are notes, which is, again,

sort of fairly consistent with somebody dealing in quantity.

Details are being taken of everything found inside the flat.

Meanwhile, the handcuffed tenant caught with his trousers down,

has been arrested and is off to the police station.

Watch your step. Watch your head.

Take a seat, mate.

If the powders aren't illegal drugs,

they could be what are known as cutting agents,

usually harmless ingredients that bulk up drugs like heroin

and cocaine to increase dealer's profits.

Fingers crossed it will be what we think it is, heroin,

and possibly some cocaine. Both the people we've arrested,

they're both known to us,

they've both got previous convictions for drugs offences.

Um, and I'm aware that one of them

has already done or served a three-year custodial sentence

for possession with intent to supply,

so I think, on this occasion, if they get convicted and found guilty

at court, then they'll be looking at a substantial time in prison.

The initial tests on the seized substances have proved inconclusive,

so they'll be sent to the police forensic science lab

for further examination.

When the results came back from the laboratory,

the white powder was discovered to be plain old bicarbonate of soda

and the brown powder just codeine and paracetamol.

No Class A drugs were found.

As a result, neither of the men were charged with any offences.

"Everyone needs good neighbours," they say.

Unfortunately, it's not always possible to have them

and, all too often, neighbours end up at loggerheads with each other.

This afternoon, Nick and Lucy are on their way to see a pair

of neighbours who have got into a disagreement about their cats.

It's a neighbourhood dispute that needs to be resolved.

Personally, I can't stand the creatures

and I'm allergic to them, so how I'm going to manage, I don't know.

Send me in, I'll go. But, yeah, I'm going to send my cat expert in, Lucy.

The person they're going to see has complained that

two of his cats have gone missing and that his neighbour,

who already has 14 cats, might be responsible.

Hello!

Nothing's wrong, Mr Farley. Can I come in?

Um, what's the score?

The man says he has seen one of his missing cats,

called Mischief, in his neighbour's front window.

What we need to do is, cats will choose where to live, unfortunately.

Yeah. And we don't have any real powers to go and grab cats back.

What we do is go and negotiate it back and see what they have to say.

Nick is off to have a diplomatic word with the neighbour to see

if he's harbouring any extra cats. Hiya. All right.

Can we come in and have a word with you? In just a second.

Now, we have a complaint from the neighbours two doors down

saying you have two of their cats.

Now, is that for definite? I'll get all my cats down and I'll show you.

No, don't get all your cats... No! No, stop. No! Stop.

Can I get...can I get him round to look at your cats?

We've already asked him if he wants to look at the cats.

Can I go fetch him and have a look at your cats? Yes. Is that all right?

Yes. While he's here, Nick wants to ensure

all the cats in the house are being well looked after.

We need to check the welfare of cats as well as we do humans

and every other animal. Come on.

We'll get the gentleman round here, you've agreed he can come here

and have a look.

The man whose cats are missing has come round to see

if his are here or not.

NEIGHBOUR: We've seen Amber wandering around yours. We've seen her come in.

Yes, she comes in, has something to eat, then goes out.

Ah, so, if she comes in, will you just, like, kick her out?

We haven't seen her in about three months.

Outside, Nick's making sure missing Mischief is not

anywhere in the garden.

Perhaps...

You want to get some covering on it sooner rather than later.

He's quite sure it is not.

You are a superstar.

I must apologise for our...

How I've put you into inconvenience this morning. No aggro.

I do appreciate you've not got the cat.

He'll be happy now that you've not got the cat, cos he was concerned.

He's obviously at some stage seen the cat in the house.

If it does come into the house... I'll just throw it out.

Why don't you take it back there for us? Would you mind?

I'll take it back if it comes here.

Yeah, take it back if it comes here, then there's no argument.

It's a bit of piecemeal to him as well, isn't it?

The gentleman's been very helpful. He's allowed us into the house,

we've looked round the house and his sheds and things.

The cats are fit, they're healthy-looking,

there's nothing wrong with them, there's food down for them,

there's water down for them, no real complaints,

no need to get hold of the RSPCA today on this one.

I just hope the cat turns up at either of the addresses

and it can be returned to its owner.

They may not have found the man's cats,

but thanks to Nick and Lucy's diplomacy, goodwill

between the neighbours has been restored and a cat-astrophe averted.

So, what he's agreed to do is if they come round and feed...

Yeah, just kick them out. What he's agreed to do is,

well, he's agreed to pick them up.

People's pets are important to them,

so if they think somebody else has got them,

it's going to upset them a little bit, so it's up to us

to sort of mediate in that process and make sure that

that cat is not where it shouldn't be and that, you know, they're

satisfied that we've done everything we can in order to help them.

Not long ago, the majority of cannabis consumed in the UK

was illegally imported from places like Africa or the Caribbean.

Now, it has been rapidly overtaken by cannabis grown at home,

here in the UK.

With it has come a flood of complaints people whose from roads

are being blighted by neighbours who have taken up growing the drug.

This afternoon, PC Jamie Campbell is responding to

a tip-off in the Springbank area of Hull

from just such a disgruntled resident.

I've received intelligence at our briefing this morning that

the occupants of an address are cultivating cannabis.

So, we're going to go to the address and see what we find.

The police mount regular raids on homes where

they suspect people are illegally cultivating cannabis, and

in England and Wales last year, they seized more than 600,000 plants.

It's a mounting challenge for the Neighbourhood Teams as,

despite it being classified as an illegal Class B drug,

more and more people seem to think it's OK to produce it at home.

Unbeknown, a lot of kids start smoking it at a very early age.

They don't really realise the repercussions and

the long-term effects of smoking cannabis,

but it, you know, it also has an effect on, eh...

Um, you know...

..relationships, families and that type of thing.

HE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR

Jamie doesn't have a warrant to bust down the door, so he's just

going to see if anyone's in and then ask to look around.

It's not looking promising.

But, round the back, someone is in.

Do you need to come in? Is it Gemma? Yes, come in. Cheers.

My name's PC Campbell, I'm from the local policing team. Yeah. All right.

We've had some intelligence passed to us

to suggest you might be cultivating cannabis at the address.

Right. OK. There are two ways I can go about dealing with it.

One is I can go and get a warrant and lock you up.

Secondly, I can search the address with your consent, which is

how I would like to do it. Well, yeah, you can do that if you want.

I can't believe somebody's told them we're growing weed.

I'll ask you the question now - are you growing cannabis at the address?

No! Right, OK. Well...they can search, can't they?

Having got consent,

Jamie is going to find out who is telling the truth.

Yeah? Yeah.

The team have good noses for these things.

One of them has found some small plants under the bed.

No, they're not cannabis plants, mate. Let's have a look.

But, at first glance, Jamie doesn't believe they are cannabis.

Oh, I tell a lie. They are.

There's a faint smell of it. Yeah.

Under the bed there's, how many? 3, 6, 9...

..12, 13...

cannabis cuttings,

which, in that form, they're cannabis plants.

They're illegal. You shouldn't be doing it.

The 13 plants might not seem much, but, when fully grown,

they could potentially have a street value of several thousand pounds.

Jamie and his team have discovered further evidence of

illegal drug activity - some cannabis in a tin.

Just a little bit of, uh...

..dried out stuff.

And in the garden shed, more cannabis growing equipment.

It's time to confront the woman.

Obviously, that's been proven to have been used for growing.

Have you got any in the loft? No. All right. We've been using the garage.

I admit. You've got me. All right.

DOGS BARK

So, what's the deal now, then?

I mean, we've been doing it for personal reasons.

All right, no problems. We smoke it.

What I'm going to do is, there's another patrol coming just

so I can get up in the loft. That's fine. Just to double-check.

I'm sure you're telling the truth, but I need to

check it while I'm here. That's fine. I hold my hands up.

Once we've checked that, then we'll see

where we go from there. That's fine.

We do smoke it, we just haven't got the money to buy it, so

we grow it for ourselves, do you know what I mean? Right, OK.

I just need to have a look up in the loft just to make sure

there's nothing up there and then that's the house,

as far as cultivation goes, that's the house searched.

The loft is clear.

The decision's been made to give her a fixed penalty ticket,

which is for possession of cannabis for ?80.

The alternative was bring her into custody,

we could have looked at possession with intent, perhaps.

But she's already told us that it's for her own personal use.

So, possession is what we're looking at.

'Many say cannabis is harmless and not addictive.

'This couple's experience might suggest otherwise.'

In my eyes, it's a victimless crime,

but it's not, because I've been a victim of it.

The...paranoia and the everything I've had.

I've been at the doctor's and everything.

When you said you've, eh...

you've stopped smoking it and, obviously,

all the effects you're suffering with it...

that was obviously what I was going to come onto.

So, you've obviously identified that.

And I've been smoking it since I was 15 and I'm 26 now.

BABIES GURGLE And, eh...

Like I say, I kicked it a month ago. The best thing I ever did. Right.

The best thing I ever did.

I've been on it a very long time, I've been on it

since I was a kid, do you know what I mean? Yes.

We can give you details of drug referral workers

and stuff like that...

Yeah. ..who can try and help you.

I can't, obviously, help you get off of it.

What we want to do is break the chain of people taking drugs.

I've been on it over 20 years, you see.

I mean, I've stopped it, he wants to stop, but...

I can get you some details and bring them back for you, if you want.

Yeah, that would be great, yeah. See you later.

Thank you, darling, appreciate that. Ta-ra. Bye.

In the end, neighbourhood policing is often

all about using common sense.

Sometimes we have to look at the best ways of dealing with the problems

and all we would have achieved by smashing her door in, um...

You know, locking her up, putting her in handcuffs,

taking her into custody,

you know, she had two small children in the house.

Um, all we would have achieved by that was aggravating her,

getting her back up, so, from our perspective,

it's better from our perspective to try

and gain that trust from them, get the information from them

and then try and put them onto the people that can help them

in the long term to get off the drugs that they're using.

Cannabis farming is not regarded as being on a commercial scale

unless there are 25 plants or more,

for which there could be a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

In this case though, with 13 seedlings and no

evidence of dealing, the woman's just got an ?80 on the spot fine.

The battle to stop drug dealers trying to gain

a foothold in local communities is one

the Neighbourhood Teams are determined to keep fighting.

As far as they're concerned,

the war against drugs certainly isn't over yet.

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