Time to get tough

POSITIVE outlook . . . Chief Constable Peter Fahy says levels of crime are still unacceptably high across Greater Manchester

New police chief in red tape blitz

GREATER Manchester’s top cop has vowed to free his officers of targets and bureaucracy — and hit the streets to tackle unacceptably high crime levels.

In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, chief constable Peter Fahy outlined his priorities. He pledged to get police from behind desks to the frontline and earn the public’s trust.

But he admitted recent achievements in lowering crime rates could be wiped out by a recession causing a rise in crime.

Mr Fahy (49) took over from former chief constable Michael Todd who was found dead in Snowdonia, in September, and has already seen success.

Serious crimes, including robberies and gun offences, have dropped — thanks to 104 extra officers.

Mr Fahy said he wanted to continue Mr Todd’s good work in reducing violent crimes and shootings, while also targeting burglars to make residents feel secure.

He said: “Levels of crime are still unacceptably high across Greater Manchester. It’s great to see percentage reductions but we must still be determined to bring crime down.

“My number one priority is the amount of time officers spend away from the streets because they are dealing with bureaucracy. We have to come up with better ways of doing that — utilising computers and streamlining what we do.”

Proclaiming power to the people, Mr Fahy wants officers to answer to the public and meet the needs of the local community — rather than Whitehall’s.

He added: “The national targets regime did take officers away from local priorities and produced perverse incentives. It’s important we are held to account, and statistics do that, but it needs to be done in an intelligent way where local people feel they can influence how local officers are working for them and for their priorities.

“Essentially, officers are doing things to meet a target when they should be doing things to make a place safer. I have given a clear message to staff that the key thing is reducing crime and targeting criminals not targets.”

But he warned: “During hard economic times, crime tends to go up.

“We are worried about it but don’t see this as inevitable. We are very proud of a long history in British policing of reducing crime — but it could get quite tough, particularly if we see a big rise in unemployment.”


Tomorrow — Fahy: The challenge ahead