Oldham councillor Sam Al-Hamdani on the systematic failings of the first police force to be placed in special measures
While there has been much focus on the Metropolitan police being placed into special measures, Greater Manchester police (GMP), the first force to be placed into that category, has received much less attention (Editorial, 30 June). The charge sheet against GMP is long and disheartening: 80,000 cases (one-fifth of those reported) not recorded; at least £27m wasted on a failed crime-recording IT system; serial warnings that they were failing domestic abuse victims; and sadly too many more to recount.
In a review into child sexual exploitation in Oldham last month, the authors noted that GMP provided no information for the first two years of their investigation, and only with regard to one of the 11 cases under review and one member of the Rochdale grooming gang, both of which showed repeated failures. Little wonder that the authors concluded that they struggled to provide assurance on GMP’s performance. It is disgraceful that the Met has been placed into special measures; it is worse that GMP had already, and yet has sunk further. For the sake of officers and residents alike, there must be change.
Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani
Liberal Democrat, Oldham council
