Liberal Democrats are urging residents across Stockport and Greater Manchester to have their say in the GMP consultation over how the public will be able to contact the Police in future. The survey can be found here.
“There are just a few days left to respond to the survey,” said Lib Dem leader Cllr Iain Roberts. “It’s absolutely essential that we are able to contact the Police effectively.”
As part of the Community Engagement part of last night’s Full Council Meeting, Superintendent Jo Rogerson of Greater Manchester Police spoke to councillors about forthcoming changes to the way policing will be organised across Stockport.
Greater Manchester Police are in the middle of a review into their Police Enquiry Counters – the places where members of the public can go and speak to someone about a problem, and most are where those on police or court bail can make their formal “appearance” to meet their bail conditions. There are 22 of these across Greater Manchester, with two in Stockport.
The most heavily used in Stockport is at Cheadle Heath Police Station, and this is likely to remain after the review. The other is on the ground floor of Fred Perry House, co-located with the Council customer enquiry reception. The police have found that their service is very lightly used and cannot carry out the full range of functions available at other Enquiry Counters, such as bail appearances. It looks quite possible that this will close.
Supt Rogerson also gave councillors an update on changes to policing across Stockport. Police will now be organised into 8 policing teams, each focused on one geographic area. Pairs of policing teams will be based in “deployment stations”, the local police stations in Reddish, Cheadle Heath, Marple and Hazel Grove. Some of these have recently been (or are about to be) refurbished to be fit for purpose.
Each policing team will provide 24/7 cover through teams of Inspectors, Sergeants, Police Officers and PCSOs and whilst they will be tackling the full range of police work, key priorities will include domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour and hate crime.
Councillors were given the opportunity to ask Supt Rogerson questions about these proposals and thanked her for a very clear presentation.
