Greater Manchester Police: Failing force to get 'refresher training'

Mr Burnham said "every sergeant and police officer" would undertake a refresher course

Greater Manchester Police will get "refresher training" in recording crime and victim care following a damning report, the region's mayor has said.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found it had failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year and its service to crime victims was a "serious concern".

The force went into special measures and its chief constable later resigned.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said "progress was being made at pace" to address the failings highlighted.

The Labour politician, who has responsibilities around the force's governance and budgets, had faced a call to resign over the report's findings.

Mr Burnham said "progress was being made at pace" to address the issues highlighted

At a press conference, he said "every sergeant and police officer" would undertake a refresher course in compliance in crime recording and victim care by the end of January.

He said the training would be overseen by the victims' commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird QC, and added that a helpline for crime victims who felt they had not been dealt with correctly by the force had been launched.

He said the line had already received 15 calls.

HMIC previously said it was left "deeply troubled" over how cases handled by GMP were closed without proper investigation and had found that about 220 crimes a day went unrecorded in the year up to June 2020.

Bev Hughes, deputy mayor for policing and crime, said the upcoming training would focus on "understanding and really appreciating the impact of these incidents from the point of view of the victim and incorporating that into the decision-making process and the investigation that follows".

"We very much want to make amends and make [the service] better," she said.

Dame Vera said "there needed to be a strong victim voice throughout and steps must be taken to increase the awareness of police officers of the needs of victims".

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