Crime down and outcomes up in past year, as GMP strives for even safer 2026

We’ve been working tirelessly all year round to help reduce crime and keep people safe in communities across Greater Manchester.

In the past year, we’ve helped reduce burglary (21%), robbery (16%) and knife crime (13%).

There have also been clear reductions in serious violence, vehicle offences and serious and organised crime in prisons.

There was a total of 10,000 fewer crimes in 2025 thanks, in part, to our proactive local policing and problem-solving approach to tackling the crimes that matter to our communities.

This has included local policing initiatives in every Greater Manchester district, such as the Home Office’s Safe 4 Summer and Winter for Action campaigns which have seen increased patrols and marked reductions in shoplifting, theft, and street crime.

Our proactive approach is seeing us conduct more stop-searches and record more drug offences and traffic offences. In the last 12 months, we stopped nearly 65,000 people and vehicles and went on to seize 22,500 vehicles and take more than 677 weapons off our streets.

We’ve continued our ‘back to basics’ approach that the Chief Constable, Sir Stephen Watson, has instilled in the force since 2021 to ensure we give the public the service they deserve.

This has seen us answer 999s at an average of five seconds, respond to emergencies in an average of under eight minutes – well within the national 15-minute target – and make more than 70,000 arrests in 2025.

Arrests aren’t an end in themselves, and we have been ensuring we’re getting justice for more victims. In 2025, we solved more than 47,500 crimes, which is a 15% increase on 2024 and more than double the crime we solved before the Chief’s appointment in 2021.

We have seen retail crime overall remain at similar levels to 2024, but we know our crime-fighting approach to shoplifting is seeing 500 offenders being brought to justice every month. This compares to just dozens a week a few years ago. Businesses and shop workers are more confident in our response to this kind of crime so are thankfully reporting it more.

Our problem-solving approach is seeing us work effectively with our partners to act on community information to bring down crime and combat the causes to prevent further harm. This includes drug dealing, anti-social behaviour, and the use of e-bikes in our towns and cities.

Operation Vulcan has seen us work relentlessly with partners to address long-standing issues and make streets safer, while our monthly Operation Avro has combined daily local crime-fighting with the support of specialist resources to tackle suspects and engage with the public.

Every area of GM has neighbourhood tasking teams to proactively tackle crime, neighbourhood crime teams to bring offenders to justice, neighbourhood policing teams to patrol our streets and ensure community safety, and a prevention hub to solve problems and reduce crime.

We’re responding to concerns from communities affected by hate crime, which saw a more than 10% increase in 2025. No community should live in fear of hate crime, and we’ll continue to take a strong stance in 2026.

The awareness and confidence of organised immigration crime and modern slavery is seeing our recordings of these crimes also increase by more than 10% this year. We’ll continue to work hard across our Programme Challenger partnership to protect victims and pursue perpetrators.

More than 7,000 domestic abuse victims saw justice in 2025. We’ve also increased the protection we’re able to give to victims with the rollout of the Home Office’s Domestic Abuse Protection Order. We have issued more than 500 orders since the pilot began in November 2024 and continue to lead the way in looking to expand it to the whole of GM in 2026.

And through partnership prevention, protecting victims, and pursuing perpetrators, we will continue to build on the recognition from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in 2025 which rated GMP as good or adequate in all areas of child protection.

Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson QPM said: “I continue to be immensely proud of the work of our thousands of hard-working men and women who work all year round to make GMP a tremendous force for good for the people of Greater Manchester.

“This year’s continued reductions in crime and increases in outcomes show what relentless, community‑focused policing can achieve — fewer victims, safer streets and a force that’s delivering at pace and to a standard the public deserves.

“But we’re not slowing down. The challenges ahead demand the same determination, the same focus on the basics, and the same partnership with the people we serve.

“As we move into the new year, our commitment is simple: we will keep working to drive down crime, keep protecting the vulnerable, and keep working every single day to make Greater Manchester an even safer place to live, to work and to visit.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: "The Chief Constable and his team are firmly focused on making sure everyone feels secure and confident going about their lives in our city region.

“After years of sustained pressure, Greater Manchester Police is back to where it should be – with the highest number of officers since 2010, and named neighbourhood policing teams in every community.

“Through their proactive approach to tackling crime through Operation Vulcan and Operation Avro, and their focus on getting the basics right, GMP are out there making a real difference for residents, businesses, and visitors in Greater Manchester."

Deputy Mayor of Safer Stronger Communities, Kate Green, said: "Greater Manchester Police is making real progress in keeping our communities safe. Faster emergency responses, more crimes solved and a proactive approach to reducing harm are all signs that GMP are continuing the remarkable improvements of recent years.

“As we look ahead to 2026, we’re determined to build on this momentum. By continuing to support community-focused policing, we can keep driving down crime, protect the most vulnerable and ensure Greater Manchester remains a safe place to live, work and visit."