Enquiry counters needed, public tell Chief Constable

Residents raised concerns about the proposed closure of two of the borough’s police enquiry counters at a lively public meeting with the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Peter Fahy on Tuesday night (2 August).

The meeting, the eighth in series of consultation meetings across Greater Manchester focusing on ‘Policing Today, Policing Tomorrow,’ was attended by around 50 people who spoke about policing issues and concerns.

In a bid to save money, enquiry counters in Littleborough and Heywood are due to close, however, due to public outcry, it was revealed that the police are now putting forward another proposal to see some counters remain open or a similar facility to remain available.

Father Paul Daly, from Heywood, said he was concerned if the enquiry counter closed it would be the start of what he called “Rochdale Infirmary Syndrome” where it is claimed that the station won’t shut but along the line more and more services are removed.

Similar thoughts from Littleborough residents and councillors were heard, to applause from the audience.

Chief Constable Fahy confirmed that the worry was one he had heard at all of the meetings so far he said that a lot of investment has been made in different methods of communicating with people but he has heard “the strength of the opinion” and the new proposals, yet to be set in stone, may see more counters actually remain open.

The Chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Authority, Councillor Paul Murphy, said the topic was “obviously emotional” and that consultation on the issue was being extended.

Some of the questions asked came from police staff from Rochdale who are worried for their jobs, the message from Chief Constable Fahy was that whilst difficult decisions have to be made there is an assurance that for those who want to remain working at GMP will be helped as much as possible.

Councillor Farooq Ahmed raised a point about the new Rochdale police station not having cells or a custody suite, he asked if officers travelling to the custody suite at Bury with individuals was actually saving money or costing more.

Chief Constable Fahy said the cells at Rochdale were “unfit for use” and it would cost “huge amounts of money” to build new ones.

He agreed that the situation was not “ideal” adding: “If we had the money we would have built a cell block in Rochdale.”

He said that Rochdale has slightly more officers to deal with the transfer from Rochdale to Bury.

A member of the public highlighted that she felt PCSOs were being ignored by fellow police officers and not being “taken seriously”. The woman suggested that “some weeding out” needs to be done.

Chief Constable Fahy said he was “sorry to hear that” but from his experience both the public and officers found PCSOS “very valuable.”

Hanief Mohammed said he felt like a “bridge” between the Asian community and the police had been removed following the removal of Jan Hargreaves in the Community Relations Officer Post.

Chief Constable Fahy said that whilst he understood the point and is “treating it seriously,” if people are “dependent on just one person, there is a problem.”

The audience received a presentation about the financial challenges facing GMP and were urged to think not about the number of police officers on the streets but what work those out there are actually doing.