Save Our Police Community Support Officers

FB moved house this week and is now resident in what she says is a huge attic room in a shared house out of the town centre. She now has to buy her own food, so has paid me a visit several times. She also needed towels, so I came in handy for supplying those too. I hated taking her back at night, not because I didn't want her to go, but because I don't like going out at night, and for the first time this year I had to de-ice the car before I set off. It's only October for goodness sake. I then found out that she gets a free bus pass, not just for college but for any day, any time, throughout Greater Manchester. She turned up last night and was horrified when I said she had to catch a bus to go home - she had had a long day!

People's History Museum, with Justice buildings!

Yesterday I went to the People's History Museum in Manchester for the first time. I blogged about the Death and the Working Class exhibition yesterday, as I wanted it to be down as my story before I sent it anywhere else. The rest of the museum was excellent too though. It really is all about the working people of Manchester in particular. As you enter the exhibition space you see Anthony Bennett's clock sculpture from 1994, that depicts the changing relationship workers had with time during the industrial revolution. Into the exhibition you hear about John Wilkes (the ugliest man in Britian or so they say), an MP who demanded an end to corruption in the government and was sent to prison for his outrageous demands! We hear about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Peterloo Massacre, and about how music has always been associated with working class politics, with the Stalybridge Brass Band marching the the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.

Anthony Bennett's clock sculpture

The political parties (mainly Labour) and various campaigns are covered and you hear about the 1st group of 29 Labour MPs in 1906 wanting pensions, womens suffrage and school meals - very new ideas for the times. After the huge Labour victory in the 1945 general election the Welfare State was implemented, and the next year saw the start of Family Allowance. Oh, how times have changed....

After Manchester we had to go to our favourite Italian restaurant, Bella Italia, as it had been refurbished. The food is just as good, and at £25 for the 3 of us it is great value. It is lovely inside, all coplour coordinated with the waiters even having the same coloured ties as the napkins. However, it has lost something, and not just all the bottles that used to hang from every bit of ceiling space. There are still some bottles hanging from the beams, but they are all arranged, with all the chiantis together etc, instead of a mass of everything. I'm sure it will be a big hit though, and as it has been there years (I first went 25 years ago and it was far from new then), with the same owners, I think it will continue.

I went on the right day for the Bury Homewatch Conference this week, and it was a much bigger event than I imagined. We all sat with other Homewatch coordinators in our area. I felt like a bit of a fraud as I'm not our coordinator, but as there was no sign of anyone else I knew I sat down and took notes to pass on. I also picked up 3 big metal Homewatch Area signs that will hopefully please the neighbours, although rumour has it the council has to put them up so we don't damage the lamp posts.

The conference started with Chief Superintendant for Bury, Jon Rush, acknowledging the achievements of our very strong neighbourhood teams and the brilliant interaction between the police and the public in these teams Peter Fahy, Chief Constable for Greater Manchester Police was next on. He reminded us that Robert Peel's idea of policing was that it should be localy based, and the test off effectiveness is the lack of crime and disorder, not the evidence and statistics of police action. This week Lancashire Constabulary stated they may have to cut all their PCSOs. Fahy didn't give the impression that he was considering this for GMP. On the contrary, he mentioned cutting back office functions, but he did acknowledge that times would be difficult, and if he involved local people he would be more likely to get a solution. At the first whispering of our PCSOs facing the ace I think my next campaign, to save them, will start. If only I didn't have to work, there are so many other worthwhile things I could be doing.

Nick Foulkes, the emergency planning officer for Bury Council gave a presentation on 'Adapting to Climate Change - An Emergency Planning Perspective' that despite its title was really interesting. There are various plans in place to deal with flooding and heatwaves, and we had to adapt our infrastructure to deal with the wetter but warmer winters, with hotter summers.

The highlight (apart from being able to sit next to our PCSO, and no Ms A I won't be expanding on that!) was the presentation by Inspector Dave McElroy on domestic cannabis farms. Outdoor cannabis plants only harvest once a year, but indoor plants can harvest 3-4 times a year. He showed photographs of a cannabis farm found in a terraced house. 3 rooms each contained about 200 plants each, and the annual income from these would be in the region of £360,000. A £50K electric bill has also been by-passed by messing about with the electricals. This needs to be done as the national grid would immediately notice the surges.

Organised crime is often behind the cannabis factories, with these criminal identifying experts who can in turn identify and rent suitable properties, prepare the farm, and manage, harvest and distribute the cannabis. Empty commercial properties are increasingly being used, and there have been cases of underground farms being found in cellars. These have the advantage that they are harder to detect by helicopter. Apart from the obvious smell, things to be aware of are blacked out windows in properties, deliveries of fertiliser and ventilation tubes, and unusual comings and goings from houses. We then got a chance to sample (well, see and smell) the end product, including the full plants, cuttings, and the ground stuff. The whole of the Elizabethan Suite at the town hall smelt like a student party, with lots of elderly smiling faces around. I should point out that Harrison came with me and stayed until Paul collected him on his way home from work. He was the youngest person there, but (apart from the PCSOs, phew, just the thought cheers me up) when he left I was then the youngest!

I also found out about local PACT (Police and Communities Together) meetings. These were something else that hadn't been disseminated to our Homewatch members, so I'll be going to the next one on 1st November.

Tomorrow Harrison and I are off to my second home, Basel. We have to fly via Heathrow (to get my airmiles flights!) so we can take in terminal 5 and dream of what we could buy if we had the money! The autumn fairs are in Basel, so we are staying there on Monday night, then heading to the mountains on Tuesday for a couple of days. The idea is that Paul will fit a new floor while we are away. He has said it will definitely get done, but I will be amazed if I come back to it being completed! Hopefully I'll eat my words. I will be out of the world of wifi for over 2 days! I will have fabulous photos for next week though.