Oldham's heading in the right direction

The Asian News marked the 10th anniversary of the Oldham riots earlier this year with a series of insightful articles around the disturbances. Happening before 9/11, those disturbances were to transform the way Britain viewed its Muslim communities, and also the way many Muslims viewed themselves.

Ten years on and we have witnessed more widespread civil disturbances, but not in predominantly Muslim areas. In reflecting back, what can we learn today? In order to learn lessons, OBV will be running the full series of articles written by Yakub Qureshi from the Asian News to mark the Oldham Riots - 10 years on. BOLD

From the Asian News:

Tim Forber wasn’t working in Oldham when the riots happened in 2001 but he knows the damage they caused, both to the borough and its reputation. Now in charge of the town’s divisional force, the police boss believes a line should finally be drawn under the past. Racist crime is a third of what it was a decade ago.

Around 1,300 hate crimes were reported in Oldham ten years ago – the vast majority of these racist incidents. Last year, there were just 360 hate crimes in the entire division.

The trend mirrors the national picture, where crime has fallen significantly in most areas. But like the rest of the country, police in Oldham is still frustrated their efforts are not always translated into public perception.

Chief Supt Tim Forber told the Manchester Evening News,

The first thing I would say is that crime – all crime – has fallen quite substantially. Hate crime is a third of what it was 10 years ago. It would be wrong to say that it is no longer an issue but I don’t think there is anything unique to Oldham in terms of the way we have to deal with it.

Some Oldham people interviewed by the M.E.N report they still feel uncomfortable about entering certain districts of the town.

The policeman said,

I wasn’t working for the force at the time but from what I’ve heard and from what I’ve seen, there is now a strong sense of community cohesion. The challenge is about the perception of crime. We are getting better at putting that across.

He added,

The most recent figures show 80 per cent of people in Oldham think we do a good job. There have been some huge changes in the town, look at the rise in the education sector. An outstanding college, sixth form, and a university centre. The Metrolink is coming. There are lots of positive things. It is very easy to look back to the past but when you look closely things have changed."

The senior officer, who started his career on the Metropolitan Police, moved to Oldham 18 months ago. In charge of 600 officers and support staff, he points to a new system of neighbourhood police teams – of which there are six in the town – which means officers are now recognised by the public.

The independent report by civil servant David Ritchie criticised varied police response times – with Asian and white residents both claiming officers were slow to attend their areas.

Chief Supt Forber said,

We have some of the best response times in Greater Manchester attending 97 per cent of emergency calls within 15 minutes.

The Ritchie report also identified that there were just 12 ethnic minority police officers out of the Oldham division’s 402 workforce. These figures don’t represent a town where 11pc of the population is from ethnic minorities.

Mr Forber agrees the force should be more representative, but says it is the attitude of his staff rather than their ethnic make-up which is most important.

He said,

"The police service has come a long way in the last ten years in recruiting officers from a minority background. We have a diverse community here and it helps to have a diverse workforce. But the most important thing is that we are listening to people."

OBV is running a series from the Asian News to mark the 10th anniversary of the Oldham Riots.