Cheshire Police conduct week-long operation protecting vulnerable people

Cheshire Police recently launched Operation Guardians, a week-long effort in protecting young and vulnerable people across the county.

Operation Guardians is a reoccurring operation run by Cheshire Constabulary that combines the efforts of several policing units and functions, including neighbourhood policing, the Serious Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), the Online Child Abuse Images Team (OCAIT), and the Sex Offender Management Unit (SOMU), among others.

Together, more than 200 officers and staff worked to target and deter predators, conduct checks on known offenders and suspects, and build bridges with vulnerable young people to prevent them from coming to harm.

This year, the operation ran between Monday 21 October and Friday 25 October. Over the course of the week of activity, SOMU officers visited registered sex offenders to ensure they were complying with the conditions of their sexual harm prevention orders, and OCAIT officers visited suspects to check that bail terms were being adhered to.

Several smaller operations were also conducted as part of Operation Guardians across the county.

As part of Operation Accommodate, officers from the Western Exploitation team joined Trading Standards in an operation on Wednesday 23 October to target stores in Ellesmere Port linked to immigration crime, seizing over £50,000 worth of illegal tobacco and cigarettes.

During the day of operation activity, the team were joined by officers from Trading Standards and visited five commercial properties across the town, with search dogs finding four sophisticated concealments, controlled by high-powered electromagnets, hiding the illegal tobacco, cigarettes and vapes.

The products that were found during the operation were being sold to the stores in large quantities and were, in turn, being sold on at half the price of genuine tobacco-products.

In total, officers found:

• 77,140 fake/illegal cigarettes
• 6.15kg of illegal hand-rolling tobacco
• 1963 Illegal Vapes

Operations were launched locally by policing units over the course of the week, designed to directly tackle the uploading and sharing of indecent images of children - one suspect was arrested, and another issued a Sexual Risk Order.

Officers in Macclesfield also conducted home checks, protecting vulnerable people who may have fallen victim to cuckooing and drug dealing, as part of Operation Excel.

As well as this, police patrols in Warrington conducted regular checks of derelict buildings across the town that missing people and drug users have been known to frequent.

In total, the week-long operation saw:

• Over 70 hi-visibility and plain clothes operations undertaken
• Over 10 arrests were made for Indecent images of children, drug supply, possession of offensive weapons, immigration offences and possession of counterfeit goods
• The Integrated Offender Management team visited 39 priority offenders identified as being high-risk
• Over 20 visits undertaken by PVP Exploitation teams to high-risk children
• 6 OCAIT warrants executed
• 8 warrants were executed

This year's operation was also launched to coincide with the national Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) campaign, ‘WhenYouAreReady’. The campaign centres on a hard-hitting three-minute film which features the voices of victims and survivors who have experienced child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Williams, who was responsible for coordinating the operation, said:

“Operation Guardians is an opportunity to highlight to the public the great work our officers do every to protect and safeguard children in Cheshire.

“The protection of children is a priority to all of our Cheshire Police officers and staff – that’s why a big focus of this particular version of Operation Guardians was to ensure that known offenders and suspects that are on bail are not doing anything that will cause further harm.

“It’s vital that those who would harm children in Cheshire know that we won’t let it go unchecked and unchallenged – this operation may have shone a light on this activity, but it’s very much our business as usual the whole year round.

"This year's operation also coincided with the launch of the 'When You are Ready' campaign, a national initiative which is designed to encourage further victims and survivors to reach out for support if that’s the right thing to do for them - we want victims to know that we will always be here to support and listen to your concerns."

Anyone who has information relating to child abuse and exploitation or has concerns can call Cheshire Constabulary on 101 or report online via our website.

Information can also be provided anonymously by contacting Crimestoppers on:

0800 555 111

Pictured - Ellesmere Port Op - officers' seizure.