Greater Manchester Police


Greater Manchester Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. GMP is the fourth largest police service in the United Kingdom after the Metropolitan Police Service, Police Scotland and Police Service of Northern Ireland ; and is the second largest force in England and Wales.
As of March 2020, Greater Manchester Police employed; 7,300 police officers, 350 Volunteer Special Constables, 606 Police Community Support Officers, and 2,961 members of police staff. The GMP headquarters are at Central Park, on Northampton Road, in the Newton Heath area of Manchester.

History

Greater Manchester Police was directly created from two recently amalgamated city police forces, Manchester and Salford Police and parts of what were Lancashire Constabulary, Cheshire Constabulary and West Yorkshire Constabulary on 1 April 1974. The city forces were Manchester Borough Police which formed in the late 1830s and Salford Borough Police which began in 1844. Upon Manchester gaining city status in 1853, its police force changed its name to Manchester City Police to reflect its status. In 1926, Salford also became a city, resulting in Salford Borough Police becoming Salford City Police. These two city forces operated until 1968 when, as a result of compulsory amalgamation, as per the Police Act 1964, Salford City Police merged with Manchester City Police, resulting in the new force of Manchester and Salford Police. This new force lasted only 6 years, when in 1974 the Local Government Act 1972 created the Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester and with it, Greater Manchester Police. An increase of 284,241 acres in terms of policing area and 2,267,090 people over the abolished Manchester and Salford Police.
Indirectly GMP can also trace its heritage to a number of other borough forces, each with their own significant history, which had been abolished in the late 1960s and which had been amalgamated into the county forces of Lancashire and Cheshire. These two county forces only policed these boroughs for around 6 years before Greater Manchester was created and GMP took over responsibility for providing police services. In the historic Lancashire county area these borough police forces were Bolton Borough Police, Oldham Borough Police, Rochdale Borough Police and Wigan Borough Police. In the historic Cheshire county area this included Stockport Borough Police.
The first Chief Constable of GMP was William James Richards. Richards had been the chief constable of the short lived Manchester and Salford Police and before that chief constable of Manchester City Police. Following his retirement on 30 June 1976, James Anderton became the new chief constable on 1 July 1976. James Anderton was a controversial figure during his 15 years in office due to his outspoken style of leadership and hard-line views on crime, policing and morality.
In 1991 David Wilmot succeeded James Anderton. In 2002 Michael Todd was appointed to Chief Constable until his death in 2008.
There was much press coverage of the death of the then Chief Constable Michael J. Todd in March 2008. Todd was seen as a man of action and got more "bobbies on the beat", with himself often doing so. GMP's Assistant Chief Constable became the Acting Chief Constable until the appointment of Peter Fahy, previously head of Cheshire Police, as Chief Constable in September 2008.
Police Constable Ian Rodgers was the first GMP officer to be killed in the line of duty in 1975. His death occurred in a railway incident at Stockport. Since the formation of GMP 20 officers have been killed or died in the line of duty. GMP then assisted with the reconstruction of Manchester following the 1996 Manchester bombing, with Garry Shewan.
In the 1990s, Manchester had gained the deriding tag of 'Gunchester', in reference to the city's high gun crime rate at the time. Greater Manchester Police faced the problem of gun crime in Manchester, particularly in the deprived districts in south Manchester. Key gang leaders were jailed for life in 2009 and by 2011, the city had shaken off the tag.
On 14 October 2010, Greater Manchester Police posted details of all calls made to them in a 24-hour period on Twitter. The service posted details of every incident reported to its officers in 24 hours to demonstrate how much of their time is spent on what the Chief Constable called "social work" instead of fighting crime. They repeated this exercise on 14 October 2014.
GMP have used social media as a helpful force rather than a hindrance. In the 2011 England riots, with criticism of the role social media such as Twitter and Facebook had in instigating the riots, GMP stated that support on social media had resulted in many responses from members of the public in trying to catch suspects. GMP then naming and shamed any convicted individuals over the riots.

Governance

From November 2012 to May 2017 the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner was Tony Lloyd. The police and crime commissioner was scrutinised by the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Panel, made up of elected councillors from the local authorities in the police area. Before November 2012 the Greater Manchester Police Authority was the police governance. However, under new plans for an elected Mayor of Greater Manchester announced by George Osborne in November 2014, the position of Police and Crime Commissioner was removed and its responsibilities subsumed into the mayoral office. The first Mayoral election took place in 2017, in which Andy Burnham was elected Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Organisation

The area GMP polices is split into geographical divisions, with each Metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester being assigned one. As of 2016, the two divisions covering the City of Manchester were merged, forming the City of Manchester division. Each division provides officers that patrol the community and respond to emergencies, along with CID officers. Neighbourhood Beat Officers are aligned to particular areas on each division, with a remit to solve local problems. Each division is headed by a Superintendent.

Divisions

In 2012, B and C divisions merged to become the South Manchester division, and in 2016, A and E divisions also merged to create the City Of Manchester Division. As of 2019, these are the current divisions:
;Manchester city centre policing
GMP maintains a neighbourhood policing structure, responsible for policing different areas within the Manchester city centre in Manchester, consisting of:

Road Policing Unit

GMP also operates a Road Policing Unit responsible for all traffic policing in the county, which includes over of motorway. GMP RPU uses a variety of vehicles, each with its own purpose. For general roads policing duties the service operates a number of BMW 3 Series Saloon and Estate vehicles which have replaced the previous use of the Vauxhall Vectra Saloon vehicles. The motorway unit operates both BMW X5 and Land Rover Discovery 4x4 vehicles. As well as liveried vehicles GMP also operates a number of unmarked BMW and Audi vehicles, which are used for general road policing and motorway duties. Previously the Motorway and the Motorcycle units stood separately, but in recent years both have been incorporated into the RPU's. BMW R1200RT-P motorcycles have recently replaced the Honda Pan-European ST 1100s & ill-fated ST 1300s. In 2009 The RPU's were divided into three strategic units, based at RPU 1 Leigh, RPU 2 Hyde & RPU 3 Chadderton. Due to the constraints on budgets and the latest review, the Road Policing Unit will lose a further 78 officers and in 2012 restructured/reduced to two RPU's based at Eccles and Chadderton. This has reduce the strength of the RPU to only 100 officers over a 5 shift system providing only 20 officers per shift to cover the police area. 2014 has seen this further reduced to 10-12 officers working the force area per shift as further cuts reduce officer numbers.
During the 1990s, the GMP's area had a high rate of car crime. To combat this the Tactical Vehicle Crime Unit was formed which in 2010 was replaced by Vortex which was based at Stretford Police Station.
In June 2011, The Tactical Vehicle Crime Unit was re formed under the slightly different name, Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit. The unit continued to utilise a selection of high performance unmarked vehicles and officers worked alongside the ANPR Intercept Unit to combat serious and organised criminals using the road network.
In 2016 the unit merged with firearms, dogs and the Tactical Aid Unit to form the Specialist Operations Team.

Air Support Unit

Aviation support has been provided to the GMP by the National Police Air Service since 2012. The NPAS operates a Airbus Helicopters H135T2+ helicopter call sign NPAS 21 from City Airport Manchester. The GMP had formed an Air Support Unit in 1989. The GMP's first helicopter was a Eurocopter AS355 Twin Squirrel. In 2001, the GMP was operating a McDonnell Douglas MD902 Explorer helicopter call sign India 99 which remained in service until 2008. The MD902 Explorer flew more than 8,000 hours dealing with around 5,500 incidents and was involved in the arrest of more than 700 criminals. In 2008, a new MD Helicopters MD902 Explorer entered service to replace the older helicopter.
Prior to the establishment of the NAPS in 2012, the Air Support Unit had amalgamated with Cheshire Constabulary, North Wales Police and Lancashire Constabulary to form the North West Air Operations Group in July 2011 operating four helicopters. The Group was established to save money and provide flexibility with the closest helicopter able to be deployed to an incident and if there were two incidents in the same force area then two helicopters could be sent if necessary.
The Air Support Unit had also operated a fixed wing aircraft. In January 2002, the GMP ordered a Britten-Norman Defender 4000 fixed wing aircraft for the Commonwealth Games in July. In July, the GMP began operating the Defender call sign India 66 for the Games which flew on average seven hours a day. The Defender flew around 1,200 hours each year including targeting terrorists and major criminals. The Defender was decommissioned in December 2013. In the United Kingdom, two other police services have also operated the Defender 4000 the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Hampshire Constabulary.
The GMP also trialled a tethered blimp in 2010 to provide surveillance for major events and high crime locations. The blimp was only used on 18 occasions and was sold due to operational problems.

Tactical Aid Unit

GMP operates a Tactical Aid Unit which is used in crowd control instances. The service has policed notable riots such as the 2001 Oldham race riots, the 2008 UEFA Cup Final riots and the 2011 England riots which affected Salford and Manchester city centre in 2011.

Serious Crime Division

The SCD is a unit of GMP responsible for dealing with serious crimes and providing protection for vulnerable people.

Counter-terrorism

The GMP Counter Terrorism Unit was formed in April 2007 to prevent the spread of terrorism. The city has experienced incidents with the intention to spread terror, such as the 1996 Manchester Bombing and the Manchester Arena bombing. Most recently, the unit helped thwart the 2009 plot to launch terror attacks on the Trafford Centre, Arndale Centre and nearby St Ann's Square.

Tactical Firearms Unit

Officers of the GMP, as in the rest of Great Britain, do not routinely carry firearms. Instead, the GMP maintains a firearms unit to provide them with a capability to deal with armed criminals. The Greater Manchester Police, Tactical Firearms Unit maintains Armed Response Vehicles, which transport armed officers to the scene. Like some other services, firearms officers carry the Heckler & Koch G36 along with the Heckler & Koch MP5 semi-automatic carbine, Glock 17 pistol, and the X2 Taser.

Dog Unit

In 2003 GMP had over 110 dogs. However, this has recently been reduced to only 35 dogs across the force, leaving many areas without a single dog available. The dogs are involved in important operational duties such as tracking, building searches, and other criminal work across Greater Manchester. The majority of general purpose police dogs are German Shepherds, but other breeds are also used, including Rottweilers, Belgian Shepherds and Giant Schnauzers.

Mounted Unit

The GMP maintains a mounted policing capability. The mounted officers are employed to target crime hotspots and are also seen at many events including demonstrations and the region's football matches. Horses are also used to search inaccessible areas for missing or wanted people. The unit is made up of a team of specialist police officers, skilled grooms and trainers, and 35 horses. The mounted unit is based at Hough End, in Chorlton, and uses horseboxes to transport the horses for duties around Greater Manchester.

Special Constabulary

GMP has over 350 Special Constables, who are assigned to each of the twelve divisions. Special Constables work alongside their regular counterparts and are mainly assigned to divisions and work within Local Policing Teams, however some divisions still allow officers to work within response teams when LPT's are not on duty. Between 2009 and 2012 a small number of Special Constables were integrated into the Special Operations Department working within the Road Policing Units, undertaking a full and complete duties within the traffic department.
In addition there are a number of Special Constables engaged, with support of their employers in the Employee Supported Policing scheme. This is where the officers employer supports the officers duties, usually with paid time, 8 hours per month are commonly covered to undertake their Special Constabulary duties at their normal place of work.
Special Constables are normally co-ordinated by the Chief Officer of the Special Constabulary, currently Michael Walmsley, and divisional commanders. Under the guidance of the Chief Constable, it was envisaged that the number of Special Constables within GMP would increase to 1,000 officers, within a 3-year period from 2009, to date this target has not been achieved.

Video Intelligence Unit

This unit conducts overt surveillance of certain released prisoners and upload some footage onto YouTube of people that they believe have reoffended.

Major Incident Team

Greater Manchester Police has eight specialist Major Incident syndicates.

Transport Unit

The Transport Unit was created in November 2019 and uses callsigns XM.
The unit was created following the travel safe unit being disbanded. It consists of 56 constables, 5 sergeants, 2 inspectors and 1 chief inspector.
The role of the transport unit involves proactively tackling crime and disorder across Greater Manchester's public transport system, including roads, buses, trams and interchanges.
The road aspect involves proactive policing of the Fatal5 offences with very similar training to their traffic officer colleagues; with specialised role specific training relevant to the transport network enabling them to work on all road types.
Some of the standard training for officers in this unit includes:
1. Initial pursuit
2. PG9 prohibition training
3. Stinger training
4. Trauma training
5. ANPR
6. Faster Roads Training
7. Motorway response driving authority
8. Laser speed device trained
9. S.165 training
10. Trackside training
11. Servator Training
12. Initial and advanced covert training.
13. A two-week Transport Officer Course.
The public transport aspect is policed using a pulse style of policing using both plain clothed and uniformed officers. Making it very difficult for criminals to predict where they will be next. There have recently been a number of successes reported in the media.

Collaborations

Greater Manchester Police is a partner in the following collaborations:
The rank structure that the Greater Manchester Police use is the same as all other British territorial police forces, excluding London.

Insignia

The Greater Manchester Police also have a special constabulary with five ranks.

Workforce

These are the numbers of police officers for each rank:

Equipment

Uniform and equipment

The normal GMP uniform is now combat-style trousers and a black zipped-neck polo shirt; a high-visibility jacket is worn as necessary. Headgear for male constables and sergeants is a custodian helmet when on foot patrol and the peaked cap has been reintroduced at other times. The Road Policing Unit uses white-topped peaked caps and peaked caps with braiding or fretting is used for the ranks of inspector and above. Female officers wear a rounded bowler-style hat. As with other services, GMP traffic officers wear a cap with a white top. Some specialists, such as police dog handlers and firearms officers, wear a blue shirt.
With effect from 1 June 2009, GMP adopted a new uniform for operational officers. This comprises a back zip-neck t-shirt and straight-leg-style combat trousers. PCSOs are issued with a light-blue t-shirt.
Uniformed officers when on duty carry a handheld encrypted Airwave radio which makes use of TETRA technology. On their duty belt they carry: an expandable baton which has recently been changed from the rigid Monadnock PR-24 Baton to the extendable Monadnock Autolock Baton, a LED torch, leg restraints, infectious disease pouch, CS spray, rigid Hiatt speedcuffs, a first aid pouch, and are required to wear a stab/ballistic vest whilst on operational duties. They will also carry their Pocket Notebook and, if trained, a Taser X26 stun-gun.
Armed Police Officers with the GMP utilize the following:
Standard panda Cars include:
Prisoner Transport Vehicles
In addition to cars, GMP operates a number of vans including the Ford Transit and Volkswagen Transporter and a number of Volkswagen Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter personnel carriers.
Roads Policing Unit Vehicles include:
Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit "TVIU"
The Tactical Aid Unit operate a number of Volkswagen Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter personnel carriers, which are modernised for public order situations and designed to withstand impact from thrown objects and flames.
The Tactical Dog Unit operate Vauxhall Astra Estate and Ford Focus Estate vehicles as well as high performance Vauxhall Vectra Hatchbacks which are used for rapid deployment across the service's divisions.
The Tactical Firearms Unit operate: Land Rover Discovery, Mercedes-Benz Vito, BMW X5 and heavily armoured Land Rover Defender vehicles which are modernised for Firearms use. This includes ballistic protection and firearms storage compartments for safe transport.
The Transport Unit have a number of liveried motorway spec Ford Mondeo's, which are ANPR Cleartone and video equipped.
They also have two vans similar to the response vans capable of carrying prisoners. In addition to this the fleet includes a marked Vauxhall Zafira, a Peugeot 308 and a covert Toyota Avensys.

Newspaper

Greater Manchester Police produce its own newspaper, Brief, which is distributed to thousands of officers, making it one of the largest in circulation. Each 20-page issue has a mix of news about police initiatives, policies and crime successes, in-depth articles on specialist units, social and sports news, and regular features.

Chief Constables

The following officers of Greater Manchester Police are listed by the Police Roll of Honour Trust as having died during the course of their duties:
In June 2017, less than a month after the Manchester Arena bombing, the Chief Constable of GMP, Ian Hopkins, said the force was under strain due to funding cuts. Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, intended to write to the Prime Minister claiming that the GMP was up to its limits "and probably beyond them". In March 2010 there was a total workforce of 13,189 staff, but projections suggested there would be only 10,108 by 2020. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary maintained that the number of police officers would reduce by 1,800 over the next ten years. Burnham feared that pressure on the GMP was increasing due to terrorism and also because of a rise in violent crime in the region. Burnham told The Guardian, "There’s no question about it: GMP needs more officers. They are at their limits, probably beyond them, in terms of what they are dealing with. The chief constable has described it as the low end of reasonable. Therefore, that’s borderline unreasonable."

GMP incidents and investigations

In 2003, video evidence emerged documenting racist acts by police trainees and officers, including one member applauding Hitler and another donning a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Flagrant use of racist language to deride other police trainees was also reported.

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