New GMP Chief Constable scraps predecessor’s ‘patronising, complete tosh’ flagship policy
Greater Manchester’s new Chief Constable is scrapping a policy brought in by his predecessor and the mayor aimed at reminding the public of their own responsibilities – dubbing it ‘complete tosh’ and ‘patronising nonsense’.
Stephen Watson told the M.E.N. that the Citizens’ Contract, launched in October 2018, effectively told the public ‘can you just stop troubling us, because we’re really busy and you just don’t understand how hard it is for us’.
He will be axing it and launching a wide-ranging public consultation instead, in order to inform what officers are needed where.
The Citizens’ Contract was launched by Mr Watson’s predecessor, Ian Hopkins, in response to the sharp fall in officers under austerity.
It was also included in the mayor’s policing plan for 2017 to 2019.
Its seven points included promises from the force to ‘provide easy access to services’ and to use its resources responsibly.
In return, the public was asked to provide information to the police and ‘understand and trust police decision-making on use of resources’, among other requests.
At the time, Ian Hopkins said it was ‘not the sole responsibility of GMP to keep everybody safe’, noting that the contract aimed to ‘remind the public of some of their responsibilities as well’.
In particular, he said, the public needed to understand why some crimes would not be investigated.
The press release launching the plan – which also quoted deputy mayor Beverley Hughes – promised GMP would be ‘upfront and honest about their priorities and demands’.
Since then, GMP has been heavily criticised by the policing inspectorate for under-recording crime and failing to carry out investigations properly. It is understood a review of GMP carried out on behalf of the mayor earlier this year, by consultancy PwC, also criticised its use of resources.
Speaking to the M.E.N, new Chief Constable Stephen Watson said the policy would be binned.
“One of the things that you perhaps have been privy to in the past, is the so-called Citizens Contract that is fleshed out between GMP and…the citizen, presumably,” he said.
“It’s just complete tosh. We’ve scrapped the Citizens’ Contract because we just think it’s patronising nonsense, which pretty much tells the public, you know, ‘can you just stop troubling us because we’re really busy and you just don’t understand how hard it is for us’.”
The Citizens’ Contract was launched two-and-a-half years ago after GMP lost thousands of police officers under austerity.
Source: (Manchester Evening News)