The Committee will receive a presentation from Chief Superintendent Paul Savill of Greater Manchester Police.

The Committee received a presentation from Chief Superintendent Paul Savill of Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

The main points and themes within the presentation included:

• Causes for concern identified in the Victim Service Assessment;
• The operating context; and
• GMP’s response;

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Were all cases that had not been properly investigated in the past now being reviewed;
• How was it ensured that calls to the police were given the correct priority level;
• How had the approach to downgrading cases changed;
• Response to Anti-Social Behaviour;
• Under-reporting of crimes such as rape and sexual assault and what was GMP doing to improve women’s confidence in reporting incidents; and
• Request for closer working with local communities and Neighbourhood Teams in setting local priorities.

Chief Superintendent Savill informed Members that GMP had reviewed domestic abuse, child vulnerability and rape and serious sexual assault cases, working with the victims, exploring any opportunities that had been missed and which could be progressed and looking at what support could be provided to victims.  In response to a Member’s question, he explained how GMP linked into victim services.

Chief Superintendent Savill reported that two issues had been identified with call handling; firstly, that all the information provided by the caller was not being consistently and completely recorded, which made the assessment of priority difficult and, secondly, that more work was needed to ensure that staff understood and could properly apply the risk assessment structure.  He outlined the THRIVE assessment that was used and stated that this assessment should now be logged for every incident.  He advised that incidents should only be downgraded if any of the indicators assessed under THRIVE changed and only with agreement from the caller and victim.  He reported that anti-social behaviour was a concern and focus within GMP and nationally, with officers taking into account whether the behaviour constituted continued and continuing harassment, as well as any vulnerability factors.

A Member asked if the Committee could have a follow-up report at an appropriate time to see if the changes were having an effect, to which the Chair agreed.

Chief Superintendent Savill advised that there were areas where there was less confidence in the police and likely to be more under-reporting of crimes and that he would be focusing on some of these areas to address this, working with Community Safety partners.  He offered to provide more information on how this work was progressing at a future meeting.  He acknowledged that it was likely that the majority of rapes and serious sexual assaults were not being reported and advised that the best way to improve confidence was through prompt, effective and supportive investigation.  He informed Members about work to improve this including training for the officers who were the first officers in attendance following these reports,

In response to a Member’s question about capacity and capability within GMP, Chief Superintendent Savill advised that, while not all crimes were investigated, the evaluation of investigations demonstrated that there had been an improvement towards a demonstrable high level of investigative quality.  He advised that GMP’s younger, less experienced officers were keen and very capable and he had confidence in their ability to investigate crime, although work was taking place to further develop officers’ skill base.  He informed the Committee that re-invigorating neighbourhood policing strategy was a priority for GMP and that this included engaging with communities and Ward Councillors to identify local priorities.

The Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) outlined the role of the Community Safety Partnership, including in relation to the GMP’s improvement plan.  She noted that the Committee normally received an annual report of the Community Safety Partnership and advised that the next one would be due around June 2021.  She advised that the Partnership’s strategy was due to be refreshed and that this would include reviewing its priorities.  She advised that further work was also needed to embed the Neighbourhood Model in this area of work and that further information could be provided in a future report.

The Chair thanked Chief Superintendent Savill for attending and thanked him, GMP officers and civilian staff for their work.

Decision

The Committee agree to receive a follow-up report in approximately six months’ time to see if the changes are having an effect.