Greater Manchester Police has launched a new neighbourhood policing model to make communities safer, following a vigorous review and public consultation.
With an additional 264 warranted police officers posted to neighbourhood teams across Greater Manchester, there will be a much greater focus on officers and partner agencies working together in communities to fight crime and solve local problems – like burglary, speeding and drug dealing.
Through the back-to-basics approach, members of the public will know their dedicated named teams who will be more visible in communities and more accessible than ever before, with a commitment that they will be ringfenced to focus on their neighbourhoods rather than backfilling other duties.
From today, neighbourhood officers can be contacted directly through the new and improved ‘Your Area’ pages on the force’s website and the brand-new community alerts system ‘Bee in the Loop’. Bee in the Loop will also allow those who sign up to be amongst the first to know about incidents and emergencies; get involved in shaping local priorities; and receive targeted crime prevention advice.
The neighbourhood teams, made up of PCSOs, PCs, sergeants, and inspectors, will also benefit from the support of specialist teams – including their own local Neighbourhood Prevention Hubs and Neighbourhood Crime Teams to help them reduce and investigate crime in a way which secures the best possible outcomes for victims and communities. The Prevention Hubs will also work with partners to address repeat offending and demand while the Crime Teams will lead on operations to target offenders who are committing the most common types of crime.
Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “The people of Greater Manchester are at the heart of this new neighbourhood policing model, which is reflective of us taking a back-to-basics approach to traditional policing. Through public consultation, we listened to our communities and this is the embodiment of our action to ensure they are on the receiving end of the very best policing services. It combines the reassurance that comes from having local, visible, and accessible officers bound to a patch, with a determined focus on fighting crime.
“The model recognises that dedicated named officers are some of the most valuable in communities and that, as highly valued as they are, Police Community Support Officers do not have the powers to deal with those issues and crimes which we know are most concerning those who live and work in Greater Manchester. Whilst retaining a minimum of one PCSO in each electoral ward, the number of warranted officers will increase exponentially as we rebalance the teams.
“35 neighbourhoods will be serviced 24/7 by 89 teams, made up of 1,148 police officers and staff – 80% of whom will have warranted powers.
“As a result, the teams will have more time to spend in neighbourhoods and, benefitting from the continued support of partner agencies and that of specialist teams, they will also have more resources to fight crime and build resilient communities which can join with us to send a messages that crime is not tolerated in any community and that GMP will do everything in its power to take criminals off our streets.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “This is the most significant change to policing in Greater Manchester in a generation and one which will command huge public support.
“I am ever aware that we have asked our residents to contribute more to support GMP and I am glad that we are now in a position to give them a clear return on that investment: a guaranteed, dedicated policing team in every single community with an increase in the number of warranted officers.
“GMP has already made great strides and is now the best force in the country on answering 999 calls. But there is more to come. I have said I want to see proactive, accountable policing in every single community in Greater Manchester. With an outstanding leader in Stephen Watson, and this new neighbourhood structure, that is exactly what GMP is set up to deliver and I am confident that they will.”
