Safer 6 Week One results - Offenders clear 1.5 tonnes of waste and nearly 300 empty homes are checked

Police took six vehicles off the road that were being used without insurance or in an anti-social manner.

They also made eight drugs seizures and arrested eight people. Two of the drug seizures each involved about 200 wraps of Class A or B drugs and about £3,000 was also seized in evidence. They also seized red diesel in a joint operation with HM Revenue & Customs.

The fire service gave advice to 60 residents and carried out 45 home safety checks, including fitting smoke alarms where needed.

Council wardens and police seized alcohol from 10 nuisance drinkers.

The biggest result of the week, as reported in our press release yesterday, was the seizure by trading standards and police of over £1.5 million worth of fake clothes and shoes from an industrial unit in Oldbury.

Trading standards also seized £40,000 worth of fake clothes from a business in Great Barr. And they visited 40 shops to check for counterfeit booze, finding over 30 bottles of suspected illegal alcohol.

Trading standards and police jointly carried out alcohol test purchases at seven shops, with one selling to the underage volunteer. That shop was issued with an £80 fine and faces a licensing review which could see its alcohol licence suspended.

Sandwell Homes anti-social behaviour prevention team, together with police, visited six known offenders in the Greets Green area of West Bromwich, to remind them of their tenancy conditions. While on the visits, they discovered a garage being used by a rough sleeper which has since been secured.

Meanwhile, the council's Youth Bus visited three neighbourhoods to provide activities and safety advice for young people, with the Eco Bus also raising awareness about litter and recycling at several schools.

Groups of young people were also given a fun and informative tour of Wednesbury Police Station custody block.

The 283 security checks on empty homes were carried out by the council's private sector housing team, which serves notices to owners of any homes left open to access.

The 1.5 tonnes of waste was cleared by supervised offenders doing Community Payback as part of their community service sentence from court.

This work, supervised by Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust, included joint work with Sandwell Homes and British Waterways cleaning up fly tipping and cutting back canal towpath entrances in the Yew Tree, Ridgeacre, Bustlehome and Black Lake areas.

Councillor Ian Jones, Sandwell Council's cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: "This is just a snapshot of the work carried out by a wide range of partner organisations during the first week of Safer 6.

"We work together all year round to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. And the aim of Safer 6 is to provide additional action and reassurance at a time of year when crime and anti-social behaviour can often rise."

Superintendent Bas Javid, of Sandwell Police, added: "We are tackling crime and anti-social behaviour across all six towns throughout the six-week campaign, with a special focus for a week on each town.

"The first week had a special focus on West Bromwich and this week's is on Oldbury.

"We are pleased to see so many different organisations concentrating their efforts in this way as the nights draw in, to help make people safer."

The Safer 6 campaign involves the police, council and many partners working together to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and provide reassurance as the nights draw in and during the bonfire and fireworks season, building on their day-to-day crime-fighting activities.

More information on the Safer 6 campaign at our Safer 6 webpage or on Twitter @sandwellpolice and @sandwellcouncil using the #Safer6 hashtag.

Organisations taking part include:

• Sandwell Council
• Sandwell Police
• West Midlands Fire Service
• Sandwell Homes
• Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust - Community Payback
• HM Revenue & Customs
• Tipton Litterwatch
• Serco
• Safer Travel Partnership
• Sandwell Drug & Alcohol Partnership