‘Urgent action’ was demanded last night by Stockport Liberal Democrat councillors to improve the performance of Greater Manchester Police (GMP). Highlighting the recent damning report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) which placed GMP in special measures, the Lib Dems condemned the lack of urgency in tackling the problems by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the elected Mayor.
The HMIC report found that some 80,000 crimes had gone unreported across Greater Manchester in a single year and that reports of domestic violence being ignored were of particular concern.
Criticising the absence of any immediate scrutiny of the failings, Lib Dem Group Leader at the Town Hall – Cllr Mark Hunter – pointed out that the last meeting of the GMCA Police & Crime Panel had been held in mid-November and the next was not scheduled to take place until the end of January. Cllr Hunter said the delay in even considering such an important matter was completely unacceptable and pressed for an urgent action plan.
“This is a failure of leadership at the very top and is no reflection of the excellent job done by thousands of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us all on a daily basis, but this is a matter of great concern to local residents and the problems need to be properly addressed now,” Cllr Hunter commented.
Cllr Tom Morrison, the Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet spokesperson, added “We have invited the Deputy Mayor responsible for Policing, Baroness Bev Hughes, to join an extraordinary meeting of the Communities & Housing scrutiny committee so that questions can be asked of the GMCA’s approach which, frankly, has not been good enough so far.”
“Policing is far too important to be allowed to fail and a more robust strategy is required to restore the confidence of the general public. I hope that all political parties can work together on this and make sure GMP is well supported and well run,” concluded Cllr Hunter.
