posted by AM_admin
A letter to thank the security team at Wythenshawe Shopping Centre
We’re so proud of our security team at Wythenshawe Shopping Centre, they received a brilliant letter from the Wythenshawe Neighbourhood Policing Team. Well done all involved!
“Good Morning
Stuck record time again, but I think things like this deserve more than a passing mention.
A habitual local offender stole several pedal bikes from the Civic and surrounding area between November and December last year. He is a particularly unpleasant and aggressive character.
The crimes reported to police had been mostly written off, until our AM security officer began to make the connection with the times, locations, and provided excellent footage of him stealing a bike on Swan Walk.
An accumulated effort from the AM team and various store personnel uncovered footage which clearly showed him stealing further bikes. This was something of a tooth pulling exercise that was supported and assisted by the lads in requesting the footage when it was taking a while to appear.
Other AM team members spotted him on several occasions on the centre in between and provided great footage of him for us to make the comparisons when it came down to identification.
The suspect is also very evasive and his last known address was a tent ‘somewhere in Wythenshawe’. This meant tracking him down was quite an ad hoc process, obviously not as simple as knocking on his door or waiting for him at the dole office.
On the day of his arrest he was found at the tram station – again spotted by the security staff who alerted police immediately and he was detained.
Along with other misdemeanours, he was wanted for breaches of court order which led him to be remanded that day and shipped off to prison for four months.
He has thrown his hand into to the theft of bikes at last after several not guilty pleas and received a further 14 weeks inside. This was after he swore blind it wasn’t him on interview, despite overwhelming evidence.
In short, only through the knowledge and alertness of the AM day staff lads have these cases been successfully concluded.
It is often a hard slog trying to challenge the resistance of defendants and their defence lawyers, even when the evidence is nailed on – but yet again thanks to the team we have another success to add to the collection.
I will reiterate that whenever I have to make requests of any of them for evidence or support on the ground it is there unquestioningly. I can safely say if I got the same support, co-operation and enthusiasm from some of the other ‘partners’ I deal with my job would be an absolute doddle.
Tea and medals all round, thanks very much.”
Wythenshawe Neighbourhood Policing Team