People have leapt to the defence of rank-and-file cops despite the latest damning report into the performance of Greater Manchester Police.
The force has been in special measures since December 2020 when Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) revealed GMP had failed to properly record an estimated 80,000 crimes in a year. The scandal cost the then chief constable Ian Hopkins his job.
His £204,000-a-year successor, Stephen Watson, was installed in May last year and promised a new era of ‘back to basics’ policing. He vowed ‘every crime reported would be properly investigated.’
READ MORE: Chief Constable Stephen Watson vows to fix GMP or ‘make way for someone who can’
In September, four months into his rebuild, the government’s policing watchdog carried out another inspection, and in a report published today (Thursday) it concluded GMP was ‘inadequate’ in three areas of work, ‘requiring improvement’ in five, and ‘adequate’ in just one area.
The report expressed concern about ‘considerable’ delays in responses to crime, and ‘missed opportunities’ to safeguard victims.
It also revealed that fewer than ten per cent of crimes recorded in the year ending March 31, 2021 resulted in action being taken by the force.
The report found high levels of workload – and overtime being used to manage demand – have led to a ‘fatigued’ workforce.
‘They are overworked and underpaid’
The story prompted a mixed reaction among our readers, some highly critical of GMP but many others also leapt to the defence of ‘overworked’ rank-and-file officers. The force had to slash the number of cops following the austerity cuts prompted by the coalition government in 2010.
On our Facebook page, Becky Ann Jarvis expressed a sentiment echoed by many others when she wrote: “They are overworked, underpaid and there’s no respect anymore.
“And the court system doesn’t help when they put in hard work to get cases to court. And they are the ones putting their lives on the line to protect us as we run from danger they run towards it.”
(Image: PA)
Justin Bridon wrote: “Heroes – working damn hard for not enough money in a hostile environment with not enough resources… the same as all our blue light and NHS services- ALL HEROES.”
The report rang true for others, however.
“Rang an emergency 999 call (and) got put on the wrong place. Came a week later and the case all got messed up with devastating circumstances,” wrote Joanne Buxton.
Cara Black said GMP was ‘useless’. She wrote: “They wouldn’t even bother to come out when we were burgled. Told us we needed CCTV. Have since bought CCTV.”
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Kevin Olomo said: “You can’t get hold of them. I was threatened with being shot, called police. Three days later they decided to turn up.”
Stephen Byrne described the treatment he received from the force as ‘disgusting’. He wrote: “We were targeted for the car parked outside of the house. They broke in (while) we’re in our bedroom.
“Three of them with hoods on, us in bed. We saw the police 32 hours later.”
Lysa Marie said the force was ‘understaffed and overworked’.
She added: “And then to make it worse when they do catch someone and have them sent to court, the criminal gets a ridiculously short sentence. Its not enough of a deterrent. It’s like they’re fighting a losing battle at the moment.”
(Image: Joel Goodman)
A woman, in an email to the M.E.N., wrote: “I was failed 100 per cent by GMP when I was raped 18 months ago. I hit a brick wall. I even went to my MP. I know this isn’t unique as there will be many women also in my situation.
“I am sick of victims not being heard and making them feel ashamed of themselves for the police failing to do their job properly.”
‘Another stick to beat frontline cops with’
Lee Broadbent, the chair of the Greater Manchester branch of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file cops, told the M.E.N: “The report is another stick to beat frontline cops with. It’s not telling of how the frontline actually operates.”
He said the report also pointed to ‘green shoots’ of recovery being delivered by officers in the but he admitted: “The reality is that any meaningful and lasting change to any of this is still some way off.
“We are talking about 18 months to be optimistic before we start seeing long-term sustainable solutions to the problems we have.
“Unfortunately these green shoots are being delivered on the back of a workforce that is already fatigued. I think we need to have honest conversations with the public about what our capabilities are.
“The public and police don’t want to be in this position. None of us joined the force to be labelled ‘crap’ or ‘inefficient’ or ‘not good enough’. It goes completely against the ethos of what it means to be a police officer.
“Most of our response officers are carrying on average between 20 and 30 crimes. We may be talking about 15 victims of crime.
“If you’re a response officer already carrying 30 crimes and an immediate response job comes in let’s say a domestic, where is your ambition or focus? If you land at that job that’s another investigation you have to carry and we just haven’t got the time to deal with the stuff that’s already on your page.
“We have a workforce that are at burn out. We are too reliant on overtime to tackle some of our day to day problems.
“We are coming out of a period of social restrictions where this summer everyone who had concerts scheduled wants to have concerts. All these things need policing.
“There is a huge influx of event demands, usual demands. We are losing good people because of the pressure we are putting on them.
“The mood is horrendous. It’s low. In the federation’s recent demand and welfare survey, 93 per cent of the workforce said morale was at absolute rock bottom.
“There is still a large proportion of people who are looking to leave and that’s obviously counter to incentivising people to come into the force.
“When you get reports like this it does hit morale again. Our membership have slogged and are slogging hard to try and deliver on some of these priorities and it comes at a personal cost.
“Officers are having to use rest days to deal with their workload. With the amount of events coming in – you only have to look at this weekend with the Manchester Derby – there is going to be a protest, we are cancelling officers’ rest days.
Manchester’s courts are some of the busiest in the country with a vast array of cases heard every week.
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“If you’re not getting any true period of relaxation to switch off from the daily demands of this job, it has a massive impact on your welfare. It has a greater impact on your desire and ability to want to show up to work.
“I’m not saying anything of this for people to go ‘poor police officers’ but I think we have to have some balance. We need to on one hand acknowledge policing isn’t perfect and policing needs massive change and we have got things wrong and we are still going to get things wrong.
“On the other hand we need to accept there are thousands of good, decent men and women turning up each day giving it their all but we don’t hear about the good stuff.
“When you have a report like this when you’ve been slogging for the last year to try and deliver that improvement – to be told you’re not good enough is a real kick in the teeth.”
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