The terrified screams of a child seconds after police raided a family home showed the devastating impact organised crime has on communities.
Merseyside Police continued to expand its Clear, Hold, Build project in Wirral yesterday (May 18) to disrupt and deter organised crime group (OCG) activity in the Woodchurch, Beechwood and Noctorum estates. As part of an extensive day of action, the force raided five properties with suspected links to significant drug crime in Wirral.
A police Matrix van, followed by a minibus of journalists and TV crews, left Upton police station and made its way onto the Woodchurch estate shortly after 9.30am. After waiting for several minutes to allow other teams get into position, the police van continued on to its destination - a quiet cul-de-sac in the heart of Woodchurch.
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And seconds after pulling up, the police sprang from the Matrix van and moved into position to smash through the front door of the semi-detached house. One officer, dressed in riot gear, used a chainsaw to weaken the entrance, while several others scaled the back fence and moved into position at the rear of the property.
Shouts of "police, come down the stairs" rang out as the officers stormed the house. But their shouts were punctured by the terrified cries of a child, too young to understand why the police had come to their home. Through the open door, a half drunk Fruit Shoot could be seen abandoned next to a black pushchair - children's toys scattered across the floor.
This is the devastating impact serious organised crime has on communities. Children will grow up without their parents, siblings and family friends, on an estate blighted with violent thugs whose criminality affects the most vulnerable.
When asked what his message to criminals in Wirral was, Assistant Chief Constable Jon Roy told the ECHO: "My message is the same any day - you cannot feel safe in your homes, because we will be relentless in our drive to find you and arrest you for the offences you have committed. And we will do everything in our power to tackle your criminality so other people can feel safe in their homes."
The Clear, Hold, Build project, known locally as EVOLVE Wirral, will see the police work alongside a number of community partners and residents to reclaim and rebuild areas at risk of harm from criminal gangs. It follows the launches of EVOLVE Liverpool and Knowsley last August following the murders of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Sam Rimmer and Ashley Dale, and EVOLVE Netherton which launched last month on the Park Lane estate.
As well as clearing and then minimising OCG activity out of the estates, a significant part of the programme is aimed at regenerating the area through community-led initiatives. ACC Roy added: "We can all see the damage serious organised crime does to people and communities and a whole and this community is no different.
"We’ve had a shooting here, serious violence here, and communities have told us they’ve had enough and want to help us deal with it and build that social capital so communities feel safer in their homes and in their street. They’re good people who deserve to own the streets, not other people."
Mark Camborne, assistant director of the Neighbourhoods team at Wirral Council, said: "The EVOLVE project is not just about tackling organised crime groups, it’s about making it more difficult for them to operate by regenerating areas and building community resilience."
He said some of the most important work on the build phase goes into safeguarding young people against organised crime. He told the ECHO: "The police's work is incredible, but you can't arrest yourself out of [this problem.]
"This is cultural, it’s young people coming through whose idols are people in crime instead of people living an honest living. We as society need to tackle that." He added: "We see these young people as victims and we shouldn’t be trying to criminalise them, but we also should not accept behaviour that isn’t right if they’re causing problems in communities."
During the police's day of action, three people were arrested and a quantity of drugs and cash were seized. An investigation is ongoing after a 32-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man from Woodchurch and a 31-year-old woman from Birkenhead were arrested on suspicion of possession of criminal property and were taken to a police station in Merseyside for questioning.
Anyone with any information about crime is asked to call Merseyside Police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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