GMP’s Winter of Action work is producing successful results with more than 750 arrests so far as the crime-tackling campaign in town centres continues into 2026.
Launched at the start of December, the Home Office led campaign is seeing forces across the country take part in a two-month crime blitz across the festive and New Year period.
This specifically includes engaging with communities to fight crime that can increase across the festive period and darker nights – anti-social behaviour, retail crime, and violence against women and girls are all strands that teams across the force are focusing on.
The action includes vital co-operation and joint-work with partners across Greater Manchester, including local council teams, charities, and local authority workers, who have all come together to contribute to the campaign’s vision of reduced crime and increased confidence.
The Winter months present unique challenges: poor weather conditions, school holidays, an uplift in high-street footfall and an increase in parties can contribute to crime in its various forms.
In response, the comprehensive policing operation has ensured that officers are in place, crime is deterred, and those responsible are punished appropriately,
The campaign has seen thousands of visible policing hours across Greater Manchester – through a combination of rigorous hotspot patrolling, community stalls, drop-in sessions, and targeted work.
The arrest count for the campaign from December 1 until the start of January is currently tallied at more than 750 – with approximately a third of those arrests coming from anti-social behaviour offences. Around 140 are for retail crime offences, with 100 for serious violent crime.
This has helped compliment the thousands of arrests that we regularly make each month – from offences ranging from robbery to sexual offences.
By targeting town centres and engaging with local businesses, which see an increased footfall throughout Christmas and January, officers have been able to reduce retail crime by 10% compared to the same December period last year.
While the intensification is across the Winter period, it is by no means a one-off: every week, officers are tackling crime that the public want us to. In the month before the Winter of Action launch, we took part in a Safer Business Week of Action – securing dozens of arrests and visiting hundreds of stores.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle, GMP’s lead for Local Policing, said: “The first month of the Winter of Action in Greater Manchester has seen hundreds of arrests and a targeted, precise focus on crimes that communities and businesses want to see robustly dealt with.
“From anti-social behaviour blighting the lives of law-abiding residents to shoplifters committing crimes in our town centres, the ongoing action is ensuring those responsible for crimes are arrested and receive the appropriate punishment.
“The hard work of officers across Greater Manchester’s districts has ensured the policing results that we’ve seen so far: thousands of visible hours which has seen officers out on the streets, a decrease in retail crime, and plenty of positive outcomes across the board.
“The contributions of our local councils and communities have been invaluable, showing that a concentrated and targeted partnership operation can deliver results for people across our districts. From the GMCA’s Safer Stronger team to local businesses, so many people have enabled the successes of the first month.”
