Source · HMICFRS

PEEL 2023-25: An inspection of Greater Manchester Police

1 December 2023 PEEL Force Inspection 11 areas for improvement

PEEL 2023-25 inspection findings for Greater Manchester Police

Applicable forces

Areas for improvement

AFI The force needs to improve its training to make sure officers understand and record the use of stop and search powers During our inspection, we reviewed a sample of 194 stop and search records from 1 January to 31 December 2022. Based on this sample, we estimate that 75.3 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 6.1 percent) of all stop and searches by the force during this period had reasonable grounds recorded. This is a decline compared to 90.3 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 3.5 percent) of stop and searches in our review from 2020. Of the records we reviewed for stop and search on people from ethnic minorities, 34 of 50 had reasonable grounds recorded. Officers should understand that they must record a detailed written explanation of why they thought the search was necessary. Supervisors who review records should be trained to assess whether the record is reasonable and to provide feedback where needed. The police use of stop and search is a valuable tool in preventing and detecting crime. However, if a force can’t show it uses stop and search fairly, there is a real risk to the public’s trust and confidence. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force needs to improve the effectiveness of its personal development reviews, which should be consistent across the workforce and valued by all Personal development reviews (PDRs) should be an effective tool for officers and staff to record their objectives and achievements. PDRs are essential for supervisors to understand the development needs of their workforce. The force has a process for completing PDRs and a PDR requirement for its police officers. However, PDRs have only recently been mandated for police staff. The force told us that 71 percent of officers comply. The officers and staff we spoke to had mixed views on the value of the process. In contrast, more officers and staff said that they found regular one-to-one meetings with their line managers to be more useful for reviewing their workloads, performance and well-being. Members of the workforce should have formal PDRs with their line managers, which should include a plan and then a review of their professional development over a 12-month period. These should be seen as effective and valued by the workforce. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force needs to do more to support the development and career progression of people from under-represented groups Policing relies on the consent of the public to operate effectively. To achieve this, it is essential that the police are representative of the communities they serve. While improvements have been made nationally, some roles and ranks still lack the diversity needed to accurately represent communities. It is important that forces identify and address barriers faced by people from under-represented groups. The force has invested in an equality, diversity and inclusion board. The board plans to gather and monitor data on its student cohort of officers and hold listening groups with under-represented groups within its workforce. It aims to better understand the challenges and barriers these groups face in order to support their workplace development. There is a good range of staff networks but those involved told us that better communication with senior leaders could help the force support people from under-represented groups. We found that while the force had some plans to identify barriers and support the development of under-represented groups, they were incomplete. The force doesn’t have a formal action plan with a range of options available to those who experience barriers to career progression. The force needs to formally develop its approach to supporting people from under-represented groups if it is to attract and retain talented officers and staff. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force has used technology to improve the efficiency of its accessible and monitored online methods for the public to contact the police The public can contact the force online using live chat or the Single Online Home platform. The force contact, crime and operations workforce monitor the online service that the force provides. The public can report a crime to the police using the Single Online Home platform, which creates an email and a PDF document. The force has developed a PDF reader that converts the report into an incident log, which negates the need for a police staff member to manually convert it. It also allows them to use THRIVE to risk-assess the report contents and quickly decide if police attendance or the progression of an urgent crime report is needed. The force evaluated the efficiency of the PDF reader and the time saved in manually inputting the 122,000 Single Online Home reports that it receives each year. It found that it saves 650 hours per month, which is the equivalent of 5 members of staff or £131,000 per year. The force has also developed an interface called Marple, which is a crime-reporting system. The interface is easier to use and prevents multi-keying of data, which means it is quicker for police staff to record a crime. An evaluation found that it reduces the time taken to record each crime by 25 minutes. From the average number of crimes recorded by the force, this equates to a saving of £2,000 per day or an estimated £365,000 over a six-month period. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force needs to attend calls for service within its published time frames Quick attendance at calls for service is important so that officers can safeguard victims and gather evidence. The force monitors its performance against its graded response policy. For grade 1 emergencies, the target response time is 15 minutes. The force told us that in the year ending 16 July 2023, it achieved this target 85 percent of the time and the average arrival time to a grade 1 emergency was 10 minutes. Grade 2 incidents have a response time target of 1 hour. The force told us that in the year ending 16 July 2023, the average response time was 2 hours but it met its target 52 percent of the time. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force doesn’t consistently achieve appropriate outcomes for victims Although the force has improved its quality of investigations, which has led to an increase in the positive outcomes for victims of crime and in the number of offenders brought to justice, it doesn’t always achieve acceptable outcomes. The force told us that in the year ending June 2023, it solved 37,327 crimes, which was 8,020 more than the previous year. However, the force remains below the England and Wales average for solved crime but has made progress. Nearly half of its improved overall outcomes are in victim-based crimes, including serious violence, serious sexual offences, burglary and personal robbery offences. During the year ending June 2023, the force increased the number of positive outcomes of victim-based crimes. The force has improved its consideration of pursuing justice without the victim’s support, through an evidence-led prosecution, where appropriate. Before releasing a suspect, the investigating officer must consult with a supervisor to assess if an evidence-led prosecution is viable. Our victim service assessment identified a small number of such cases. In four of the five cases we reviewed, there was evidence that the force had considered progressing or tried to progress each case without the victim’s support. However, the force doesn’t always achieve acceptable outcomes for victims of crime, and a low number of crimes are solved following investigations. The force needs to understand the issue and try to achieve better outcomes for victims. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force uses geofencing software to direct specialist resources to monitor preventative orders The force’s armed response vehicles have technology that notifies the vehicle’s crew when it is near an address at which a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) is in force. This allows officers to visit the address to monitor and enforce the DVPO if required. The force told us that since May 2023, there have been 422 DVPO alert notifications, which has resulted in police officers visiting 165 addresses with DVPOs in force. This has resulted in the arrest of six individuals for breaching DVPO conditions. The force is now seeking to use the same technology within its roads policing vehicles. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force should use a quality assurance process to make sure that standard-risk domestic abuse incidents are accurately assessed by the attending officers It is important for officers attending the scene of a domestic abuse-related incident to assess the potential risk of serious harm to the victim. To do this, they complete a risk assessment questionnaire and research previous history. Risk levels are graded as high, medium or standard. The force has dedicated officers working with partner organisations to review incidents and refer victims to external support services. For example, an independent domestic abuse adviser can support and help victims of domestic abuse. The force has a process for domestic abuse-related incidents that are assessed as standard risk, which means that current evidence doesn’t suggest serious harm is likely. The process includes training for police officers to complete the risk assessment referral at a scene of domestic abuse. The officer must also speak to a sergeant while at the scene. Once submitted, the standard risk assessment form is checked for any information and disclosure under Operation Encompass. This notifies schools if there has been a domestic incident at a pupil’s address. On occasion, we found that multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) secondary risk assessors within some districts would review the standard risk referral if they had the capacity. However, in some of the busier policing districts, MASH staff didn’t have the capacity. Officers’ assessment of risk is important. Correct assessment means victims at higher risk receive the safeguarding support they need to reduce the risk of potential harm. The force may wish to introduce a quality assurance process in relation to standard risk referrals to check that its officers have set the appropriate level of risk. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force should make sure that all staff working within a multi-agency safeguarding hub are trained to assess the level of risk It is good practice to provide staff working within a multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH), who review both domestic abuse and child protection referrals, with specialist training. This makes sure that they appropriately assess the level of risk and that victims are referred to agencies that can support and safeguard vulnerable people. For example, they should be aware of the effect that coercive, controlling behaviour may have on the assessed level of risk. During our inspection, we found some very experienced and appropriately trained staff within a few of the force’s district MASHs. However, this was inconsistent. We also found some staff who hadn’t received appropriate training. The force should make sure that all MASH staff who complete secondary risk assessment referrals receive the appropriate training for their roles. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force needs to review how it monitors its requirement to visit registered sex offenders to make sure it quickly manages risk Upon initial inspection in April 2023, the force told us that it had backlogs of 1,490 registered sex offender visits and 1,535 active risk management system risk assessments. Home visits and risk assessments are carried out to accurately assess the risks posed by registered sex offenders to reduce those risks and safeguard the public. The force responded very quickly to the feedback we provided at the time of our initial inspection. It improved its registered sex offender management plan and changed how its team operates. The new plan predicted that the backlog would be resolved by the end of the year. The force monitored the reductions in backlogs weekly, which showed that it was completing more visits than expected and clearing backlogs more quickly than predicted. At the end of our inspection period, the force told us that backlogs had been reduced to 163 overdue registered sex offender visits. As a result, it is considering keeping the structure it developed as part of its successful plan to reduce overdue visits. However, our inspection also found that the force routinely planned 12-month revisit reminders and relied on offender managers to record any earlier visits if required by the registered sex offenders’ level of risk category. We found that offender managers weren’t consistently recording earlier dates. We also found examples when earlier dates weren’t recorded and as a result, the offender manager had missed visiting a high-risk offender within the appropriate time. Towards the end of our inspection, we found that due to the management of the visit diary, some visits to registered sex offenders who had been part of the overdue backlog had again lapsed and become overdue. The force should review how it monitors and manages registered sex offender visits to make sure it can meet the visit requirements for each level of risk. During our inspection, we reviewed offender management records. We found that the force needed to provide clearer guidance to staff on the benefits of regularly checking the Police National Database. This will help them to understand all intelligence and risks and effectively update risk management plans. Greater Manchester Police

AFI The force should make sure that quick and appropriate child protection safeguarding referrals are in place when managing the risk posed by online child abuse offenders The force carries out safeguarding and intelligence checks before a search warrant application and enforcement action is taken against those suspected of sharing images of child sexual abuse. Usually, the social services team check whether any children are linked to an address that has been identified as being involved in the indecent sharing of child abuse images. If a child is linked to both this address and an open case with children’s services, then the investigating officer makes a referral. They will then attend a strategy meeting prior to any enforcement action. However, if a child linked to the address isn’t an open case with children’s services, the force will submit a referral after it has taken enforcement action. This means that the force isn’t quickly providing social services team with all the information it needs to determine if there is an increased risk to a child. The force should make sure that child safeguarding referrals are timely to manage the risk posed by suspected online child abuse offenders. Greater Manchester Police