Salford's Project Gulf team has won a national award for partnership working

This is an archived news story from September 2011

Salford’s Project Gulf Team has won a national award for partnership working

The Association for Public Sector Excellence (APSE) awarded Salford best Public to Public Partnership Working award, despite stiff competition from seven other councils. They were presented with the award at a ceremony in Bristol on Thursday 8 September 2011.

The Gulf team, which has already been recognised by the Home Office, works to tackle serious and organised crime in Salford and involves the police working with the council, Serious and Organised Crime Agency and other partners to tackle all areas of organised crime in the city.

Since the team was set up they have seized £172,000 from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), recovered more than £300,000 of counterfeit goods, recovered hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of unpaid tax via Her Majesty Revenue and Customs and £90,000 of Class A drugs.

The Project Gulf team investigates every area of a suspected criminal's life - including their business interests, benefits and associates. The information they gather is used to build an intelligence picture and identify illegal activity.

The organisations involved can then use their various powers to make it more difficult for these individuals to pursue their criminal lifestyle, such as revoking their licences and freezing their benefits.

Since work began, officials have investigated security firms and wheel clamping firms, as well as tracing Salford criminals living in Spain and Holland, returning them to the UK to face justice.

Cllr David Lancaster, Salford City Council lead member for community safety, said: "The Gulf team is doing an excellent job of tackling serious and organised crime in the city. By looking at every area of a criminal's life, we can build a comprehensive picture of what they're doing and use a wide range of different powers to disrupt their criminal lifestyles. It is great to see this work get further national recognition."

Chief Superintendent Kevin Mulligan from Greater Manchester Police, said: "This award recognises the achievements of the many agencies involved in Gulf including Greater Manchester Police and Salford City Council. It also illustrates the major threat that organised crime poses to society and that all agencies and communities need to do more to tackle the harm and financial damage, estimated to be at least 40 billion a year, they cause."

The Gulf team has also been nominated for a Jane's Police Review Excellence Award. Anyone wanting to support the team can vote for them. Voting closes on 16 September.

Date published: Friday, 9 September 2011
Reference number: 11-3008

Press and media enquiries only: