Greater Manchester Police praised for high standard of training

Date article online: 29/06/2006

Greater Manchester Police has been praised for its high standard of training to ensure good quality crime recording in a national survey released today by the Audit Commission.

The National Crime Recording Survey 2005 shows that during the last three years, GMP has shown consistent improvement in the quality of crime reports taken from members of the public. Greater Manchester Police is also highlighted in a case study as leading the way in the training of police officers to effectively and efficiently record crime.

Deputy Chief Constable Dave Whatton said: "Recording crime properly is vital: so the public have confidence in their police service; so we can protect victims; and so we can investigate crimes properly to catch and convict criminals.

"The National Report from the Audit Commission and the detailed local breakdown we have had for Greater Manchester shows that we do take this really seriously. I am very pleased that the efforts of the Force and Police Authority have been recognised.

"The recognition that there are still issues for GMP around resources stopping us doing what we would like to achieve will be important in future discussions on our budget. We do have plans in place to address these in the medium and longer term.
 
"The high standard of training we provide our staff enables GMP to deliver an effective and efficient service and helps to make people feel safer within their neighbourhoods.  Recognition of GMP as national best practice is a pat on the back for those individuals who have made a real difference.

"We hope that these results will give people more confidence to report crimes and we are continuing to look at ways we can further improve to ensure we provide the best level of service to our communities to make them safer places to live."

The Audit Commission reviewed 43 police forces and authorities in England and Wales against the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) and Home Office Counting Rules. It also examined the way forces and authorities managed the process to ensure compliance with the standards. Each force and authority was given one of four ratings: poor, fair, good or excellent.