It’s been a great first year for officers from the newly formed Operation Reacher tasked with fighting crime team in Gedling borough
The borough-dedicated Reacher team today revealed they have carried out 146 stop and searches, made 81 drug seizures, taken 29 weapons off the streets and seized nearly a quarter of a million pounds in cash.
They said much of the £241,905 cash, which was often seized in large bundles of notes, is believed to be linked to drug dealing.
Gedling borough’s Reacher team was the second to be introduced after the original Bestwood Reacher Team was launched in April 2018 – and following their success, the model has now been rolled out to all 12 neighbourhood policing areas across the force.
Sergeant Matt Sisson, who leads the team, believes that tackling drug supply will make a real difference to the community.
He said: “From my perspective, everything links back to drugs – drug addiction and drug dealing can be the catalyst for a whole range of other crimes which on the surface might seem unrelated. It’s something which can have a huge impact on an area and on people’s lives, so it’s good that we’re fighting back.”
Sergeant Sisson said being able to help people is a huge motivation
He added: “As a police officer, you really do feel like you’re improving people’s lives, he said. “Some of the feedback we get from the stuff we do, it motivates you to carry on.
“It’s nice when we get information from the public and we’re able to develop it, take action and go back to the person and say ‘this is what we’ve achieved’. It builds that confidence with the public that we’re listening to their concerns and taking action.
“Our role is really varied and we also do plain clothes work. We helped to arrest a suspected paedophile last week – those incidents really motivate you. Getting those people off the streets who are a risk to vulnerable young people is a really rewarding part of the job.”
The team has five members with two more due to join next month.
Most of the officers have backgrounds in local policing, including PC Graham Willis who is providing valuable advice thanks to his experience on the original Operation Reacher Team in Bestwood.
Sergeant Sisson said: “Graham was one of the original Bestwood team, so he’s lending a lot of guidance about how Reacher works. Before that he spent the majority of his service in the Gedling area, so he’s got great local knowledge and links in the community.”
