Meet Louise Fernyhough who introduced the first computer system at GMP

Louise Fernyhough joined GMP on 15 August 1983, as a temporary shorthand typist in Chester House, next door to Traffic Management. Neither her original role nor traffic management still exist today, a sign of the many changes that have taken place since she joined GMP 41 years ago.

As she reminisces about her time here at GMP, she looks back on how her career has evolved over the years.

Louise said: “After my first role, I moved to ‘Civilian Personnel’ (known today as Police Staff) - there was a separate department for police personnel. We were like a family, which is something I see a lot when I read articles about our 50th anniversary. There weren’t as many people working here then, so lots of things were different.

“Fingerprints were also based at Chester House. There was a dance floor on the second floor, and they would organise discos on Friday nights.

“In those days, a lot of women had admin or ‘civilian’ jobs, as they were known then. Over time, a lot of police officer roles became civilian roles, and with that came more opportunity to develop."

When asked what aspects of policing have changed the most since she started, Louise said: “One of the things I’m most proud of is introducing and running the first computer system within GMP. We started rolling out computers across GMP in 1988, and I was responsible for the first one outside of the IT department.

“Everything I knew was self-taught—there was simply no computer training back then! I used it for analysing figures.”

Louise also brought changes to GMP’s Mounted Unit, ensuring it ran more efficiently and officers could get out on patrol earlier. She said: “My other ‘claim to fame’ is that I ‘civilianised’ the Mounted branch.

“Officers used to come in at 7am to groom and muck out their horses. It took a lot of their time, which meant they didn’t get on parade until 11am. In 1989, I was asked to work on a project to see how we could improve things. I calculated that by employing police staff as stable hands and grooms to help get the horses ready, the officers would be able to get out earlier. The project took one year.”

When asked how technology had moved on, she said: “Technology has completely changed GMP and helped it run better. Even down to the little things. In the 80s there were less than 1000 police staff within GMP and we used a card index system called a Kalamazoo. Every post/role and person had a card and the cards had holes punched into them. To do a search for a person or role, you had to put a knitting needle into the appropriate hole and then lift out the cards that the needle had chosen!”

Commenting on how policing will change in the next few decades, Louise said: “Our society is so diverse now and policing will need to carry shifting to meet the changing needs of our communities.  In addition, we have AI and increasingly sophisticated technology; we will need to find new ways of dealing with complex cybercrime, and as a force, we’ll have to make better use of technology and keep up with new developments.”

When asked about her favourite moments in her career, she said: “I’ve met and worked with some lovely people and made lots of friends during my time here. People have been so kind to me. I’ve been lucky to have lots of interesting work and different roles within Human Resources that I’ve really enjoyed and as a result made so many great memories.

“I remember a visit from the late Queen. She came to open Phase II of Chester House. There used to be a bridge leading from Chester House over to the new comms centre which always smelled funny! However, when the Queen came, there was a red carpet and flowers everywhere—everything had been painted and spruced up for the occasion. We all stood outside, trying to see her. I recall she looked beautiful.

“That was definitely one of the highlights of my career as well as when I got married. I was set up by some of the staff I worked with and had my picture taken with me sitting on one of the horses at Hough End – it’s something I’ll never forget!”