People of Radcliffe, Lancashire, to be officially hassled by police

A high profile campaign of harassment of the people of Radcliffe has been launched.

Previously, people who were out and about, minding their own business, and not committing any criminal offences at all, were hassled by a team of staff from the council's "security services".

Under this latest initiative, those "security services" will now be joined by PCSOs, as well as real Police Officers, to hassle the law abiding people of Radcliffe.

The campaign, known as Operation Press, is mainly targeted at Bolton Road Park and the surrounding areas, though officers are also visiting Hutchinson Way.

Police are using the campaign to gather information about those citizens who they judge to be acting anti-socially (although not in breach of any actual law) and hand-held video recorders are being used to intimidate people, and record the identities of people who are not committing any criminal offences.

2 PCSOs stand by as 10 year old drowns

Police Chiefs in Manchester have defended two Police Community Support Officers who watched on as a 10 year old boy drowned in a pond.

Jordon Lyon, who was 10 at the time of the incident, leapt into the water in Wigan, Greater Manchester, after his eight-year-old stepsister Bethany got into difficulties on 3 May.

Anglers managed to pull Bethany out but Jordon slipped from view before they could get to him.

The alarm was raised and the PCSOs arrived on the scene. Police said they could see no sign of Jordon in the water, so instead of jumping in an attempting to save the drowning boy, they radioed 'trained' officers for help.

The PCSOs did not try to rescue Jordon and they did not give evidence at the inquest held by deputy West Manchester coroner Alan Walsh.

In a statement after the hearing, Det Ch Insp Phil Owen, of Wigan CID, who led the investigation into Jordon's death, said: "PCSOs are not trained to deal with major incidents such as this."