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‘I can succeed with your help’

by Tom Rowley
1/10/2008

GLOSSOP’S new inspector says he has a tough act to follow as changes are introduced in the way policing is organised locally.

Gareth Meadows succeeds Stuart Thompson, who has been promoted to chief inspector based in Buxton.

Inspector Meadows took over on Monday, the day the six sections of B Division — which includes the Glossop area —were reduced to three.

Glossop now lies within the new, expanded northern section, along with New Mills, which will have 10 more police officers and a sergeant, John Bowman as well as two extra PCSOs.

The three safer neighbourhood teams covering Glossop, Hadfield and Gamesley/Charlesworth — which Inspector Thompson credits being largely responsible for the 19.6 per cent reduction in crime last year, the best performance across Derbyshire — will remain.

Inspector Meadows said: "The section has grown geographically and in terms of population coverage. We have got extra resources. Stuart spent around 10 years in Glossop and crime has reduced for the last five years in a row.I hope to continue Stuart’s good work in the section, working with the High Peak community safety partnership."

He added that the force still faces "challenges" in curbing burglaries and thefts from and of vehicles.

"We have travelling criminals coming from Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire and there’s always a clear link between acquisitive crime and controlled drugs. In the last two weeks we have executed two drug warrants in the section around cannabis plants found in one house and ecstasy and cannabis in another house, both where we acted on information from the public. I would like to encourage members of the public to give us more information like that."

Inspector Meadows said there were two operations in the pipeline — Operation Transgress, to tackle anti-social behaviour in the run-up to Halloween and Bonfire Night and Operation Beat Sweep later in November, to target a ‘hotspot’ of criminality yet to be determined.

Inspector Meadows, 36, is married with two young children and has lived in the High Peak for 12 years. He joined the Derbyshire force in April 2007 after 14 years with Greater Manchester Police.

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