Police celebrate North Manchester's diverse communities

Friday, 06 June, 2008


North Manchester Police this week (Wednesday 4 June) hosted a Faith Day to celebrate the diverse communities in the area.

It was held at the Saffron Restaurant in Cheetham Hill where Superintendent Mark Burtonwood invited members of the community to come together to build on relationships between community groups.

Police officers from the local neighbourhood engagement team, North Manchester's Independent Advisory Group (IAG) and the newly set up Mosque Network met with voluntary and local youth groups to discuss ideas about how to strengthen community engagement in the area.

The IAG for the area has been running for over five years and regularly assists the police by offering guidance on policy matters affecting the diverse communities, as well as during high profile and critical incidents. The members of the group are drawn from all the main faith groups present in north Manchester. The Faith Day gave recognition for the, often under-played, hard work that the group does in the wider community.

The neighbourhood policing team has been working hard to improve community relationships by supporting local events such as football training sessions involving young people, faith festivals and community meetings. The team recently participated in the Nagar Kirtan, an event that celebrated the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi. They joined over 2,000 members of the Sikh community in the celebrations and participated in a citywide procession, which included the three Sikh Temples in the Cheetham area - Sherbourne Street, Heywood Street and Derby Street.

Superintendent Mark Burtonwood, from the North Manchester Divisional, said: "The aim of this Faith Day is to bring together some of the key community groups in the area and provide them with the recognition they deserve for all their hard work. The neighbourhood policing team in Cheetham Hill is building on strong the relationships in the area in order to improve the way we work with residents and workers.

"Crime is reducing in north Manchester but we still have a lot of work to do and strengthening our working partnerships will ensure that we can be even more successful in the future."

In order to find out more about other community events in your area, contact your local neighbourhood policing team by visiting www.gmp.police.co.uk

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