Op Vermont: Day of action carried out in St Helens to combat crime and disorder

Officers carried out a day of action in the St Helens area yesterday, Thursday 13^th May, as part of our ongoing commitment to reduce crime and disorder and reassure our local communities.

Patrols from St Helens Local policing teams were joined by the underwater search team, the mounted section and officers on quad bikes to target the town centre and local parks and green spaces in order to carry out open land searches and stop searches.

Officers also worked with St Helens Council licensing and trading standards teams and immigration officers to check businesses as part of a human trafficking operation and also as part of an operation targeting rogue trading.

There was also joint roads policing operation with Cheshire Police to patrol the borders and target cross border criminality. 

With the assistance of St Helens council officers a search of the gutters/drains in and around the town centre were carried out and two knives were located, with a further two handed to officers by the cleaning crew which have been discovered in the drains this week.

A drugs warrant was carried out a house on Elephant Lane and 31 year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled drug.

A 48 year-old man was arrested on Bridge Road in Clock Face on suspicion of drug driving; a 21 year-old was arrested on Jubits Lane on suspicion of drug driving and a 24 year-old man was arrested on suspicion of drug driving on Vista Road. All have been released under investigation.

As part of a static vehicle check on Jubits Lane, 45 vehicles were checked and two vehicles were seized for having no insurance and a cannabis farm with over 100 plants was discovered at a property in Hammond Street.

St Helens community policing Chief Inspector Paul Holden said: “Yesterday’s activity came after listening to concerns from the local community about the issues that affect them most.

"We know how important it is to work with our partners in order to target issues such as antisocial behaviour and drug dealing and its associated criminality and we know, from public feedback, that our communities welcome seeing officers on the street carrying out this type of activity.

“Proactive work such as this is carried out by officers every day to ensure St Helens and the rest of Merseyside remains a safe place for our communities to live, work and visit and we will continue to listen to the public’s concerns and act on any information given to us. Information from our communities plays a vital part in bringing offenders to justice, so I would like to encourage the public to continue to come forward to us, or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously, so that we can take action.”

If you have information on criminality in your area, please contact @MerPolCC, 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.