Britain's public services are teetering on the edge.
The failings in policing are but one example as seen in Greater Manchester where the inspector of constabulary "said he was deeply concerned that Greater Manchester police (GMP) was failing vulnerable victims of crime, with some waiting days or weeks for a response."
In the first warning of its kind, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said on Thursday: “It has now reached the point where we are concerned about public safety in Greater Manchester.”
Such warnings are only issued when inspectors discover “significant service failures or risks to public safety”. The HMICFRS confirmed that this was the first time such an alert had been made about a metropolitan police force in England or Wales.
It came after inspectors found huge delays in GMP’s response to victims and a huge backlog of emergency calls.
The troubled force, which has been in special measures for nearly a year, attended under a third of incidents that should be responded to within an hour, the watchdog found, with some victims left waiting days for a response. GMP is the biggest police force in England and Wales outside London.
Yet I believe, and know from experience, that change is possible, not only here but across Britain. The journey begins with admitting there is a something needing to be fixed; and being willing to turn around to a new and better way.
Andy Cooke, inspector of constabulary, said he was deeply concerned that GMP had “consistently failed to make significant improvements in how it responds to vulnerable victims of crime”.
He said inspections had been carried out on GMP in 2019, 2020 and in the past few weeks. He concluded the force had not sufficiently addressed concerns first raised by HMICFRS in 2017.
The latest HMICFRS report into GMP said the force had a “significant” backlog of 2,700 emergency calls from the public and that it was failing to in effect prioritise the most vulnerable.
Yet I believe, and know from experience, that change is possible, not only in Manchester but across Britain. The journey begins with admitting there is a something needing to be fixed; and being willing to turn around to a new and better way.ter way.er way.r way. way.way.ay.y.nchester..
“Some victims wait for several days, in some cases over a week, and in most cases, the force doesn’t contact the victim to explain that there is a delay. Some of these incidents had been closed without any police response being deployed.”
GMP is in special measures after an earlier inspection report found that it had failed to record 80,000 crimes – one in five of all reported offences – in the year to June 2020.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/greater-manchester-official-concerns-raised-about-public-safety-amid-police-failings/ar-AAOZITP?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531