One in three rapes, robberies and violent attacks written off by GMP as 'no crime'

Greater Manchester Police failed to follow up on a third of rapes, robberies and violent attacks after wrongly dismissing them as ‘no crime’.

No-crime refers to an incident that was initially recorded as a crime but has subsequently been found not to be a crime on the basis of additional verifiable information.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMCI) published individual reports for 21 forces following an interim report in May, which found tens of thousands of offences could be going unrecorded by police.

At Greater Manchester Police, the Inspectorate examined 496 incident records and found that 388 crimes should have been recorded, of which only 265 (68 per cent) were. Of the 265, 10 were wrongly classified and 22 were recorded outside the 72-
hour limit allowed under the HOCR.

Of significant concern is the decision-making around no-crime decisions for rape. The HMCI found "failures were primarily attributed to the interpretation of additional verifiable information, with those victims suffering with mental health, those young of age or intoxicated more likely to receive a poor service."

Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk said: “For some time now I’ve had concerns about Greater Manchester Police not taking rape seriously, particularly when the victims are young, vulnerable and less able to argue their case. This report acknowledges that these people ‘are more likely to receive a poor service’ and this is simply not good enough. What this effectively means is that vulnerable children are being fobbed off and not treated seriously.

“As we’ve seen in Rochdale, Rotherham and elsewhere this can have catastrophic consequences. It emboldens gangs of rapists so they feel able to carry on committing terrible crimes knowing they’ll get away with it because their victims are ignored. The HMIC are calling for significant changes in how the police manage rape complaints from vulnerable adults and children and these need to be implemented without delay. At the moment the culture in Greater Manchester Police is just not right where rape is concerned.”​