The damning report into Greater Manchester Police that we were never meant to see
Nine months ago, as Greater Manchester Police was reeling from being placed into special measures, the mayor’s office commissioned a review into its problems.
Consultants Pricewaterhousecoopers were brought in to conduct a root and branch review – partly to see whether its initial plans for improvement were fit for purpose, but also to identify what lay behind its failures.
The M.E.N. revealed many of its key findings in the Spring, after news leaked of its damning conclusions. But at the time, it was kept under wraps.
Since then a new Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, has taken up post and drawn up a longer term improvement plan – and on Friday, the full PwC report was finally published alongside it.
It makes for damning reading. PwC’s findings echo many of the points made by current and former officers in the M.E.N’s report into GMP’s cultural problems last week, particularly around an environment of negativity, blame and lack of support from the top.
More than 700 members of staff responded to a cultural survey that revealed some of the worst findings PwC had ever seen in a police force – with particular frustration and anger reserved for the force’s computer system, iOPS.
The consultants had also found neighbourhood officers struggling with huge workloads, in some instances handling 25 cases at a time, while GMP overall did not have good enough data to be able to take good decisions. Victims were often thought of ‘last’, according to interviews with police officers carried out in March. Training was insufficient and inconsistent; Wigan in particular had been allocated too few officers to meet demand; morale overall was low.
Many cops felt particularly ill equipped to deal with the scale of the mental health cases GMP was now attending.
Speaking to the GMCA on Friday, Andy Burnham said the report had only ever been intended for internal consumption, but that the Chief had decided to publish it with his agreement.
It had been commissioned in the first place, he said, ‘so at this point in time there was just a full picture, everything was faced up to in its entirety’.
“And while it was never intended that that report was going to be published – because obviously we wanted people to be able to speak freely to that report – we have given that commitment and it is being published.
“I was quite clear that this was a report to the Chief Constable to support him in his decision making, in formulating this plan. And I was also clear that it was his decision to publish, but that was the decision that we both made, and when that should be done.
“So I just want to make it absolutely clear that those were policing decisions as opposed to anything else. But that has been done because we needed at this moment in time to face up to everything that we need to face up to so that we rebuild in exactly the right way.”
GMP now has a detailed improvement plan, informed in large part by the PwC report. But now for the first time we can detail exactly what that 100-page report found.
Leadership: ‘Quick to push blame down’
Some of the most damning findings in the review related to leadership and culture.
The frontline, for their part, reported a pervasive culture of blame.
“The force is disillusioned with leadership. There is a lack of top down direction and a sense that leadership does not understand the realities of the frontline,” reported PwC, noting that was particularly the case in relation to the Policeworks element of the iOPS computer system, first the source of whistleblower frustrations more than two years ago.
“There is a perception that leaders are quick to push blame down and the frontline does not feel appreciated or valued, despite being the first person victims engage with.”
PwC carried out a huge cultural survey, responded to by more than 700 members of staff, as well as holding workshops and focus groups attended by dozens more.
It found consistent themes, including a ‘cynicism’ towards the organisation, one that was leading many officers to treat it as a stepping stone on their career path.
That was then leading to loss of expertise and institutional knowledge, with neighbourhood policing officers particularly inexperienced – and struggling to mentor one another as a result.
“A survey of 700+ officers and staff returned some of their most critical qualitative responses seen by PwC’s culture specialists,” said the report.
“The survey, which has been delivered at three other law enforcement organisations reveals a wide disconnect between frontline staff and the leadership (senior officers) of the organisation, which has eroded trust and confidence. Whilst police officers and staff retain a strong sense of public duty, there is a belief this is hindered by ‘chaotic’ organisation in GMP.”
The force had ‘not responded consistently’ to police inspectorate findings over a number of years, it found, ‘leaving it lagging other forces in innovation and performance’.
“In interviews with senior leaders (chief officers) there was a lack of operational accountability, corporate governance and capacity to lead change.”
While other large police forces had invested in a better blend of skills at the top – including more senior civilian staff – GMP had not done so.
There were many strengths among frontline staff, found PwC, including huge resilience and a sense of public duty. Cops were proud to be police officers and wanted to do the right thing.
But problems in the way the force was being run meant that they were relying on an ‘extraordinary effort’ to keep the show on the road.
A ‘fear of failure’ was widespread and was negatively affecting individual members of staff, found PwC.
“Across the force there is a sense of competition rather than collaboration and a tendency towards shifting blame, fear of failure and a reluctance to own up to mistakes.”
‘Angry and frustrated’: iOPS
A major theme from interviews with police officers related to the force’s computer system.
That had first prompted the frontline – and civilian staff – to contact the M.E.N. with frustrations and fears within days of its introduction in summer 2019, but it would be this year before the scale of its problems were fully publicly acknowledged.
PwC confirmed what officers already knew: the Capita-built system, or at least the part used by most cops, lacked the basic functions they needed. And it meant they were wasting hour upon hour waiting for it to load.
Instead of helping, Policeworks was ‘hindering GMP’s ability to deliver its service’.
“iOPS Policeworks is limiting police officers’ ability to carry out their roles,” concluded the report.
Source: (Manchester Evening news)