GMP has “substantially improved” its crime response after hiring more officers

Greater Manchester Police has “substantially improved” their response to victims of crime, after a recruitment surge led to more officers than ever before in GMP history.

Data shows a reduction in overall crime in Greater Manchester and an increase in outcomes – meaning fewer victims and more offenders being brought to justice.

GMP says it now has nearly 8,200 officers – the most in their history – after exceeding an ambitious recruitment target last year as part of the national Police Uplift Programme.

Investment was also put into over 300 new vehicles, new uniforms, and new body-worn video equipment.

GMP says that the statistics from Home Office crime figures for 2023 are the result of a ‘back to basics’ approach, as part of efforts to fight crime, protect victims, and keep communities safe.

Where crimes are committed, GMP says it has improves its response to victims in their time of need by picking up the phone in seconds and getting to incidents within minutes.

An increase in officers is helping to see more people arrested, with twice as many suspects being arrested since March 2021.

In the year up to March 2024 officers solved 48% more crimes compared to three years ago and neighbourhood crime is down.

In July 2021 GMP committed to attending every residential burglary, which has helped solve 77% more burglary offences. Every week around 50 fewer people in Greater Manchester are now a victim of burglary compared to three years ago.

In the last year alone, other crimes were driven down such as burglary (24%), robbery (10.3%), vehicle crime (18.2%), violent crime (6.4%), and theft (4.8%).

Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “Our overall performance is ahead of the national trend. We are proud to be a force for the people of Greater Manchester which is widely recognised as rapidly improving and is on its way to being one of the best in the country.

“Our capability, resilience and professional endeavour has led to this speedy turnaround. We have proud and committed officers and staff who are doing what the public expect of us: to pick up the phone and respond quickly, to record crime faithfully, to investigate reasonable lines of enquiry, to protect victims and pursue suspects, and to fight, prevent and reduce crime.

“It is clear that in a vast majority of areas, we are bringing more criminals to justice and less crime is happening. This is better for victims, for communities, and for the decent hard-working people of GM.

“Every day and night our officers and staff work professionally and diligently to keep our communities safe. We will not relent on our journey to keep improving our prevention of crime, protection of people, and tackling of criminals, and we will continue to be a force for good for all of Greater Manchester.”