New police chief running it local

Reporter: JANICE BARKER
Date online: 10 February 2010

Marathon man’s borough pledge

Oldham’s new police chief can give criminals a run for their money — he’s already completed three marathons and a trio of Olympic-distance triathlons.

Chief Supt Tim Forber (37) is settling in to his job at Oldham Police Station, eight days after moving from Huddersfield.

And he reckons the two boroughs are mirror images of each other.

“They are very, very close in size and economy and diversity of the boroughs,” he said.

“Oldham is a vibrant place, bustling around the town centre.

“Obviously economic issues are apparent, but there are a lot of similarities with where I worked.

“My priority, based on my previous experience, is neighbourhood policing.

“I want neighbourhood policing to be what we do, not a part of what we do.

“That involves devolving more and more to the six localities and becoming more involved in overall neighbourhood management.

“In my previous division we devolved more policy functions to neighbourhood level than had ever been before.

“A lot of local crime was investigated at local level. It is important for victims of crime in a local area to have a local officer, someone they recognise and have an affinity with.”

He praised his predecessor, Caroline Ball, for bringing Oldham’s crime rate down by 16.7 per cent in the financial year so far — with 3,238 fewer victims of crime..

Mr Forber investigated 20 murders in two years at West Yorkshire Police where he was a detective superintendent in the homicide and major inquiry team.

His cases included the so-called “honour killing” of Mian Shahid Mehmood in Halifax in 2006, the murder of four-year-old Ryan Hawkins by his father in Slaithwaite and the killing of taxi driver Mohammed Pervaiz by a gang in Huddersfield in 2006.

Mr Forber, who is married with three young children, still lives in Huddersfield, although he is originally from St Helens.

After studying law at university he joined the Metropolitan Police, first in leafy Richmond-on-Thames, then in Del Boy territory, Peckham, before joining the CID in Lambeth.

But Mr Forber says most people are not affected by major crimes.

He said: “We have to have the resources to deal with those issues and also deal with matters that affect local people on a day to day basis, not just one or the other, but both.”
At 37, he is one of Greater Manchester’s youngest ever divisional commanders, and when he’s not working he relaxes by running marathons and taking part in triathlons, which involve cycling, swimming and running.

He has had a very busy first few days getting to know his 440 officers, seeing the borough and introducing himself to the community.

He is also keen to promote the Police and Community Together (PACT) meetings and said: “We work best with the community.

“We want violent crime to come down, that is something we focus on, but also lower level, quality of life issues, which make people’s day to day lives poor.

“The chances of being a victim of crime are relatively slim, but there are issues about anti-social behaviour which affect people’s lives.”

He also plans to see how Oldham’s night time economy works by going out on the beat in Yorkshire Street on Fridays and Saturdays.

“Police can’t do this alone, we need to co-ordinate with licensees, private security firms, police and the local council, a whole series of variables,” he added.