Chief Constable's Blog

Current Stories

, 29th 2010

Crime figures29/01/2010 10:26

The Home Office recently published crime figures and they showed that Greater Manchester had the biggest fall in crime for two years. This relates to the period Oct to December.

The crime figures have now become a political issue. The government of the day publishes them and then the opposition party of the day tries to find holes in them and put a negative slant on them.

, 6th 2010

New Year challenges06/01/2010 10:12

I hope you had a good Christmas and a chance for some rest. I spent part of Christmas Eve at Claytonbrook control room talking to some of the staff working there and then spent the rest of Christmas with my family at home.

On New Year’s Eve I was out on patrol in Bolton on a perishing cold night. I was struck yet again by the fact that alcohol was a factor in every job we went to, and by the forbearance of our officers in what they had to deal with. The impact of the longer licensing hours seems to be greater every year with officers having to stay on later and later.

, 25th 2009

Bringing the community together25/11/2009 11:22

I have now been Chief Constable for about 14 months and the honeymoon is well and truly over. The Force is in the middle of an ambitious change programme to deal with issues the public and others are concerned about. This has at its heart the further strengthening of neighbourhood policing and local problem solving, and the reduction of unnecessary bureaucracy and delay in the way we answer calls and investigate crimes.

, 19th 2009

My first year19/06/2009 13:59

I have now been Chief Constable of Greater Manchester for a year and the honeymoon period is well and truly over.

During the past 12 months, I have tried to build on the legacy left to me by the previous chief constable, Michael Todd. I wanted GMP to continue its excellent record in dealing with serious and organised crime, but develop further the day-to-day policing, which most directly affects people locally.

If there has been one overarching issue it has been to move away from an over emphasis on statistical targets and league tables to one driven by the local public need. People are no longer convinced by crime statistics and figures but rely on their own day-to-day experience.

, 8th 2009

Balancing rights and responsibilities08/05/2009 14:02

Policing has certainly been in the news over recent weeks with the G20 protests in London, the counter-terrorism arrests in the North West and even the Lancashire officer who refused to get on a bike for health and safety reasons.

It is the counter-terrorism arrests, the subsequent release of the suspects and the consequent media coverage which has taken up much of my time.

It is worth repeating some of the points I have made over this case.

We take the use of terrorist legislation very seriously and consider very carefully before using it.

When we receive intelligence about possible terrorist action we evaluate that intelligence very carefully and do all we can to try and verify it but without betraying our source as this will only make us vulnerable in the future.

, 6th 2009

We're bothered06/04/2009 09:55

Yesterday I went to my third police funeral in four weeks with the very sad death of Chief Inspector Karin Mulligan. She was a remarkable woman who made a strong stand for equality during her career but also was a very good officer and leader. Our thoughts are with her family.

Over the past week I have on patrol in Altrincham and Salford, an award ceremony at Wigan, a promotion parade, Chief Constables Council in London and the national workforce conference in Leeds.

As you go around Greater Manchester or open your newspaper you will see lots of adverts about the Policing Pledge. The Pledge is designed to give the public a clear guarantee about the service they will receive and remove some of the inconsistency between forces. We all need to take seriously giving the public we serve a clear idea of what they can expect and to keep them informed of what we are doing in their area.

, 27th 2009

Building confidence through relationships27/03/2009 10:31

Over the past few weeks I have continued my journey around the various parts of Greater Manchester visiting my staff, going out on patrol and meeting local people. I recognise that my honeymoon period is coming to an end and quite rightly people and staff ask will ask: “Well, he seems a nice bloke but what’s he going to do?”

There have been two major changes over recent months that affect our future direction. One is the change in Government policy which has now put the level of public confidence as the key priority for policing. The second is clearly the economic crisis which is increasingly affecting local people. This means we have to ensure all the efforts of the Force are directed towards improving local policing and the protection of local people, and on those other issues which affect public confidence.

So I have been concentrating my attention on those measures that will reduce bureaucracy, get officers out on the street and improve customer service. This isn’t just about police officers however. For example, in burglary investigation Crime Scene Investigators play a vital part and so we have looked at changing the way they work to get to more burglaries soon after they have been reported so that victims can clear up and we get the best chance of securing evidence.

We realise that public expectations of customer service are ever more demanding. People want some clear idea of when officers will turn up and want regular follow-ups on what is happening with their case.

We have now created facilities for the public to contact their local neighbourhood team by telephone or email so again we need to make sure we have the staff there to deal with those calls and messages. In my experience the public don’t like talking to answering machines too much.

This is quite a challenge given that we have always encouraged the public to contact us 24 hours a day any day of the week. What we do know is that everyone that has a bad experience tells all his or her friends.

, 9th 2009

Driving down crime, driving up confidence09/02/2009 11:21

I have continued my various visits around Greater Manchester and had many meetings regarding local and national matters. My focus remains on how we can maintain the current reduction in gun and gang activity and how we can further develop neighbourhood policing.

Last Thursday I went to a meeting of Stockport Council. In general the councillors who spoke said that they had seen a positive difference in their areas through a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour and valued the relationship they had with their local neighbourhood inspectors.

We discussed ways in which we can strengthen the service to the public and have a greater impact on certain local problems. One issue that came up was the change to the classification of cannabis. I made it clear that we would continue to focus our efforts on those who cultivate and supply cannabis but then be driven by the degree to which local people saw it as a problem. Where local people see drug dealing and flagrant drug use as a local priority then this will be a priority for the local policing team. Drug dealing obviously fuels the misery of drug addiction but also brings violence and acquisitive crime in its wake. Open dealing and drug use makes people feel unsafe and undermines their confidence in the law.

Cannabis has been reclassified because the cannabis now in circulation is stronger and more dangerous. There is more evidence of the psychological damage it can cause.