Police squad to tackle violence on tram line
POLICE and security staff will ‘flood’ a Metrolink line this week in the latest move to combat violent behaviour.
Officers both undercover and uniformed will be scrambled for Operation Infinity – with a ‘bolstered’ force in place for the three weeks after that on the Oldham and Rochdale line.
It follows the move in April to a 24-hour control room to monitor network cameras, increased patrols on lines, including Oldham and Rochdale, and educational work with schools and parents.
But anti-social behaviour has continued – and some leaders say the police and transport bosses may need to go further than their latest plan to end the crisis.
In the last seven months alone, Greater Manchester Police have recorded 240 assaults on the network.
On the Oldham and Rochdale line, which accounts for between a quarter and a third of all incidents on the network, there were 66 assaults.
They include an attack on two 13-year-old boys at South Chadderton last month.
There were 75 incidents of criminal damage on the Oldham and Rochdale line, including throwing stones at moving trams, damage to vehicles at Metrolink car parks and vandalised ticket machines.
Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon said: “It’s a positive start to making people feel better and shows the mayor has listened to us, but it’s not enough in itself.
“This goes beyond the trams, it goes into the neighbourhoods around the network and into the derelict buildings. They are magnets for young people to gravitate to.”
He said the council, youth service, community volunteers, police and transport leaders needed to bring together a ‘single plan’ which assesses the routes people take to tram stations to make them safer.
Senior transport councillor Roger Jones, meanwhile, said the solution of guards on every tram should not be ruled out.
He added: “What’s going wrong in Oldham and Rochdale was reported a long time ago and everything that’s been tried has not resolved the problem.
“Staff have spoken to us about not feeling safe. If this latest idea works, then great. If not then I don’t think the issue of guards on trams is going to go away.”
He said whatever happens the problem needs to be solved, adding: “The transport committee feel that we can’t accept anti-social behaviour on a continual basis.
“It will put people off using public transport.”