Tameside Independent Advisory Group (IAG) has received a prestigious award for its work in guiding local policing and community cohesion.

The IAG is a statutory group made of volunteer members of the public, independent of the police, from across the diverse Tameside community including Community Champions and faith groups, which advise the authorities. 

Tameside Council say the group has taken great strides in Tameside, with members meeting regularly online and working together to foster positive relationships and provide community confidence and cohesion.

Examples of incidents where it has made inputs of particular value and impact in the face of community unrest include the Denton Car Cruise, Daisy Nook rave and the wider Covid-19 pandemic response. 

In recognition of the work done over the past 12 months, the group received a commendation citation at the Greater Manchester Force Awards Ceremony on Monday 29 November.

The award was presented to the group by the Chief Constable for Greater Manchester Police, Steve Watson. 

The citation of the award reads as follows: “Through the dedication of its members over the last twelve months Tameside IAG has become a shining example of ‘community’”.

It also said their work has been recognised as ‘Gold Standard’ by chief officers and the local authority.

The formation of IAGs was a recommendation from the McPherson report, which followed the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence, and every policing district should have one.

Tameside’s IAG was re-invigorated in February last year, and took a slightly different approach by splitting the regular online meetings 50/50 between the police and the local authority.

The IAG have scrutinised the council and police’s work on hate crime and stop and search, and have been involved and engaged with the recent inspectorate reports from HMIC – HM Inspectorate of Constabularies.

The council say the Tameside IAG were quickly recognised through local authority and force forums as being really engaged and effective, and brought about a force-wide review of IAG’s and how they should be run.

Tameside Council Executive member Cllr Allison Gwynne said: “The IAG has been particularly effective within the Tameside Community advising on a number of local issues and community unrest such as the Denton Car Cruise, Daisy Nook Rave and the wider Covid 19 response. It has lead the way for others to follow, it is great to see it recognised and well done to all involved.”

Terry Finn, Community Cohesion Officer for Tameside Council, who started the group in March 2020, said: “I’m very proud to receive the award on behalf of the group and it is much appreciated to see the hard work of the group recognised in this way.”

Read more from the Tameside Reporter

Click here for more of the latest news

Click here to read the latest edition of the paper online

Click here to find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper