“SERIOUS disorder” involving rival organised crime groups in Keighley led to people being rammed by cars, a spate of assaults, and a shooting at a petrol station.

And these criminal groups also were also involved in the creation of a number of “sophisticated” cannabis farms in the town.

This week police will update Councillors on what has been done in the past year to tackle crime in Keighley, and the force’s response to the organised crime groups, also known as OCGs.

The crackdown led to 37 arrests, and 36 cannabis farms being shut down.

Inspector Khalid Khan from West Yorkshire Police’s Keighley Neighbourhood Policing Team will appear before members of Bradford Council’s Keighley Area Committee on Thursday night.

He will tell them that in addition to attempting to bring criminals to justice, work is being done in the town’s schools to prevent children from being groomed into a life of crime.

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Late last August a 28-year-old man was shot at at the Jet petrol station in South Street in what was thought to be a targeted attack.

This was followed by a number of other incidents, including a men being seen with weapons on Devonshire Street West and reports of a number of people involved in “a bit of a commotion,” with some of them carrying weapons.

Last year there were 77 recorded incidents of “serious violence” in the area covered by the Keighley Neighbourhood Policing Team. This was up from 66 the previous year.

Insp Khan’s report to the committee says: “We unfortunately experienced some serious disorders between rival organised crime groups back end of last year resulting in car rammings, assaults, a firearm incident at the petrol station, however they were immediately dealt with.

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“Operation Jemlock was instigated with the support of our partners and additional resources attached to the operation were brought into Keighley proactively targeting individuals linked to the Organised Crime Groups and criminality in general.

“This was to reassure our communities who were fed up with the conduct of these individuals and to give a clear message to the individuals involved in criminality that their actions would not go un punished.

“Drugs which continue to blight our communities have continuously been a key priority for us.

“In addition to the street dealing more and more organised crime groups are setting up sophisticated cannabis farms across Keighley.

“Last year alone we discovered 36 cannabis farms in the Keighley area with the help of our communities. Six drugs warrants were executed with recovery of substantial amount of class A and B drugs.

“Recorded drug crimes had gone up from 125 to 191 due to the various operations set up across Keighley.”

Members will be told that in the Keighley area alone Operation Jemlock led to 37 arrests, 53 stop and searches, 132 “intelligence reports” and 19 vehicles being seized.

Insp Khan said Operation Errantdance, a Bradford based crackdown on drug dealers had helped cut out supply chains that target drug users in Keighley.

Operation Steerside - which targets danger drivers, also had a busy year in Keighley, with 25 operations.

These operations led to 959 tickets being issued, which included 659 for seatbelt offences, 64 for speeding, 73 for drivers using mobile phones, three for drink driving, 36 for MOT offences.

Twelve arrests were made and 130 vehicles seized.

Insp Khan’s report adds: “A considerable amount of work has been carried out with our local schools and particularly Year 6 of the primary schools identifying issues and dealing with them through the early intervention process to ensure they are not groomed into criminality.

“For this we have worked in partnership with the schools, Bradford Council and one of our ex-officers Sam Sagar who has been delivering sessions to the youngsters.

“In addition our cyber officers have been visiting the local schools and delivering internet safety sessions not only to the students of Years 3/4/5/6 but also to parents groups, school governors and other relevant organisations. 17 schools across Keighley have had the input.

The committee meets in Keighley Town Hall at 6pm on Thursday.