GMP’s sex offender and suspect management teams report progress since inspection

Greater Manchester Police’s sex offender and suspect management teams have reported significant progress since the inspection.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary assessed GMP’s effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy in July 2023. The report published earlier today (Friday 1 December 2023) graded the force’s management of offenders and suspects as requiring improvement, highlighting three specific areas of concern.

Offender and suspect management is led by the force’s Public Protection Division, which is made up of specialist units and teams including the Sex Offender Management Unit (SOMU) and Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT). It is invaluably supported by district-based officers and partners.

To address the first area for improvement, GMP launched a dedicated operation to reduce backlogs and introduced additional governance and peer support to monitor and cutback overdue visits and administration. Since the beginning of the year, SOMU has reduced overdue visits and specialist risk assessments by 81% and 83% respectively. Since the inspection three months ago, the figures have reduced by a further 14% and 62%. This comes alongside an increasing number of sex offenders requiring management due to an increased conviction rate.

In order to address the second and third areas for improvement, the OCAIT has also begun the implementation of national best practice, realignment of resources, and making improvements to cross-force working to ensure intelligence relating to all cases, not just those assessed to be high risk, is shared with relevant partners at the earliest opportunity.

Head of Public Protection - Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Jones said: “For obvious reasons, it is imperative that we get this right. Neither I nor the communities we serve want sex offenders who live within our neighbourhoods to pose a risk, and we all want vulnerable young people to be protected by authorities. 

“Prior to the inspection, my teams had already identified these issues and begun work to resolve them. Whilst data showed that initial steps taken in the first half of the year were taking us in the right direction, we knew in July that we had some way to go and were prepared to make further changes as recommended by HMICFRS.

“In the last three months, we have continued to make tangible progress – substantially reducing overdue visits and specialist risk assessments. However, I can assure you that with the oversight of myself and force leadership, my teams will continue in their commitment to assure communities that offenders and suspects are well managed.”