Police operations to keeps night time visitors to Bolton safe and crackdown on knife crime and robbery on a housing estate have been recognised nationally.

The two operations have been shortlisted in The 2023 Tilley Awards.

Operation Overspill was launched in May 2022 in partnership with Bolton Council to keep people safe during the night when out in the town centre.

Within months more than 100 people were arrested since.

This operation was launched in response to an increase in reports of robberies, anti-social behaviour and other crimes which have since significantly reduced.

Another operation - problem solving knife enabled robbery - which targeted a particular Bolton estate has also been shortlisted.

This was an initiative  launched in 2021, to reduce the number of knife crime and robbery incidents at a particular housing estate in Bolton, by successfully changing the layout of the environment.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the only force to be shortlisted for three national awards, two of which have come from Bolton-based problem-solving initiatives.

The 2023 Tilley Awards acknowledge and celebrate the best examples of problem-solving in UK policing. The award ceremony will be held in October.

Among the 10 "problem-solving initiatives", GMP has secured three nominations, which demonstrate how their initiatives have improved the lives of local communities.

Chief Superintendent Emma Taylor, Head of the Prevention Branch and the Strategic Lead for Problem Solving at GMP, said: “I’m really pleased to hear that GMP has been shortlisted for the Tilley Awards.

“This highlights the fantastic progress the force has made towards becoming a problem-solving organisation and developing national best practices.

“Three out of the 10 nominations shortlisted are from GMP, which is a huge achievement and further evidence of our journey as the most improved force in the country.”

The final nomination is for Operation Vulcan, launched in November 2022.

This focuses on counterfeit goods being sold in the Cheetham Hill and Strangeways areas of Manchester and has proactively tacked organised crime gangs embedded within local communities.

Since its launch, the Op Vulcan team have been responsible for seizing approximately 1,000 tonnes of counterfeit items with a street value of £135 million.

The Tilley Awards were set up in 1999 by the Home Office to publicise the use of problem-oriented partnership (POP) approaches to crime reduction and what can be achieved by tackling crime in a different and more strategic way.