Greater Manchester Police failed to record more than 80,000 crimes in a year, damning report finds

How GMP provides a service to victims of crime is a “serious cause of concern”, according to the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

Around one in five of all crimes, and one in four violent crimes, reported by the public to GMP are not recorded by the force, inspectors found.

GMP failed to record an estimated 80,100 crimes reported to it between July 1 2019 and June 30 2020, amounting to around 220 crimes a day.

A higher proportion of violent crime was not recorded, including domestic abuse and behavioural crimes, such as harassment, stalking and coercive controlling behaviour.

Inspectors estimated that the force recorded 77.7 per cent of reported crimes, a drop of 11.3 per cent from 2018.

The force wrongly and prematurely closed some investigations, inspectors found, some with vulnerable victims, a proportion being domestic abuse cases, where although a suspect was identified, the victim did not support, or withdrew support for police action.

And “in too many cases” watchdogs said there was no evidence to confirm the victim’s wishes had been properly considered before the investigation was closed, and inspectors could not be sure that victims were properly safeguarded and provided with the right service or support.

Ian Hopkins has been Chief Constable of GMP since October 2015, head of a force with 6,866 officers.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham said: “Victims of crime are too often being let down by Greater Manchester Police.

“The service provided to victims, particularly those who are most vulnerable, is a serious cause of concern.

“This is extremely disappointing given that HMICFRS has been urging Greater Manchester Police to improve in this area since 2016.

“Failure to record crimes potentially prevents victims from receiving the justice and support they need.

“I am deeply troubled about how frequently the force is closing cases without a full investigation, giving the reason that the victim did not support police action.

“In too many of these cases the force didn’t properly record evidence that the victim supported this decision – particularly in cases of domestic abuse, where seven in 10 are closed on this basis.

“While it is simply not good enough that these concerns have not been addressed for over four years, I acknowledge that the force is taking action to address these deficiencies.”

GMP is investing in new infrastructure to centralise its crime recording and is introducing a new assessment to ensure more vulnerable victims are identified.

Ms Billingham said senior leaders in the force are demonstrating their intent to improve the service and there had been a recent marked improvement in its recording of serious sexual offences and rapes but this now needs to be done across the board.

And she warned “this situation cannot continue” with a further inspection planned in six months with “considerable and sustainable improvements” expected.

In response to the report, GMP Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling said: "We welcome inspection and scrutiny as we are committed to providing victims of crime with the highest standards of service.

"We are obviously disappointed by some of the findings in the report, particularly where we have let victims down. However, I want to reassure the public that we treat this matter very seriously. We have a long term strategic plan in place to address these issues and that we are determined to make whatever other short term improvements we need to make and to make them as quickly as possible.

"Although we acknowledge there has been a deterioration in some elements of recording since the last inspection, we have made huge improvements in some elements including rape, sexual offences and many areas of volume crime which are now recorded by our centralised unit.

"These improvements are part of our long term strategy which has seen the implementation of our new computer system and the significant progress towards centralisation of the control room and crime recording function.

"It is only by centralising these functions that we can truly deal with these issues in a sustainable and affordable way.

"We would like to highlight that this inspection examined calls, incidents and crimes recorded in spring, whilst the force was in the middle of making and embedding many of these strategic changes including the centralising of elements of crime recording and the control rooms.

"The force was also facing the unprecedented and changing challenges posed by the first Covid lockdown.

"This meant that we were unable to recruit and train the additional staff we required to progress the centralised crime recording function in the timescales we would have wished.

"Since spring, there is strong evidence of improved crime recording rates in many relevant areas, so progress has already been made.

"For example, since June 2020, GMP has increased crime recording rates for domestic abuse by 18 per cent, stalking and harassment by 33 per cent and coercion and control by 30 per cent.

"We would also like to highlight other findings in the report, which are extremely positive - including our crime recording rates for rape and sexual offences, which have increased.

"The force has also significantly reduced the amount of time taken to answer 101 calls and, subsequently, the abandonment rate – this is despite of the impact Covid has had on resources and staffing.

"Around half of these unanswered non-emergency calls can be attributed to callers hanging up and electing to make use of the force's online reporting.

"This is actively encouraged by a recorded message and represents effective call and demand management.

"I can reassure the public that the issues identified in the report have been treated very seriously and reflected upon and we have robust plans to implement any outstanding learning and secure the best possible outcomes for victims going forward.

"This will be supported by robust governance and strategic leadership oversight.

"The safety and wellbeing of the public, as well as maintaining their confidence, under pins all that the force does."

Greater Manchester’s deputy mayor for policing, crime and criminal justice, Bev Hughes, has also given her thoughts on the report and expressed her "disappointment" with some of the findings.

Baroness Bev Hughes (Picture: Greater Manchester Combined Authority)

Baroness Hughes said: “It is absolutely critical that the general public has faith in the processes used by the police to record incidences of crime.

"Some of the findings in this HMICFRS report are extremely disappointing and I have communicated my feelings to the Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police (GMP), who must now move quickly to make improvements.

“GMP has already developed a detailed action plan that they are working through and I am receiving regular updates about the progress of this plan.

"In terms of domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, and controlling and coercive behaviour offences, poor performance had been identified as part of the action plan and, as a result, there have been increased levels of recorded crime for these areas over recent months.

“Greater Manchester residents should be reassured that the period of time covered by the HMICFRS report was some months ago and there is clear evidence that current processes have significantly improved since June 2020.

"This is partially due to the creation of a Crime and Incident Recording Centre of Excellence earlier this year, which provides a co-ordinated approach to improving all aspects of crime and incident recording.

“At the core of the police’s work must be the accurate and timely recording of crimes so the people of the city-region can both be kept safe and feel safe.

"We must ensure that victims of crime get the services and support they need when they need them.

"GMP has made it clear to me that the issues identified are being taken very seriously and robust plans are in place to build on the recent improvements made.”