Crime blitz sees figures plummet

Sigh of relief for GMP chiefs

NEW statistics suggest Greater Manchester Police has achieved its most significant drop in crime for two years — plummeting by 13.4 per cent.

The figures for October to December, 2009, will be a great relief to GMP chiefs who have activated a 90-day action plan to improve performance and prevent Home Office intervention.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “We recognise that crime is still unacceptably high and public confidence is too low — but we are doing everything we can to change that.”

When compared with the same period the previous year the Home Office released figures show:

::9,434 fewer victims of crime — down from 70,168 to 60,734 or 13.4 per cent.

::1,721 fewer victims of vehicle crime — down 17.4 per cent.

::529 fewer victims of violent crime — down 4.8 per cent.

::383 fewer victims of robbery — down 20.5 per cent.

::1,058 fewer victims of domestic burglary — down 16.9 per cent.

Neither GMP nor the Home Office could provide further figures or a breakdown by each division.

GMP says Operation Storm, which saw almost 900 burglars arrested in a two-week crackdown and large amounts of cash, drugs and stolen equipment seized, has been successful in reducing crime. Operation Admiral, a crackdown on violent crime that that saw 795 people arrested in August, provided another breakthrough.

A second Operation Admiral blitz saw 612 arrests in December for theft, burglary and robbery offences. More operations are under way.

Mr Fahy said: “The figures are heading in the right direction — it’s our aim to ensure that as few people as possible in Greater Manchester are victims of crime. However, there is still work to do.

“We will continue to build on the success of operations like Storm and the force-wide days of action in August and December, which targeted those criminals who bring misery to the lives of others.”

The Home Office also revealed figures for the 12 months up to September, 2009.

GMP saw an overall 10 per cent reduction in crime during that time with 16 per cent less vehicle crime, 10 per cent less violent crime, a 4 per cent reduction in robbery and 1 per cent reduction in burglary.

And the latest British Crime Survey showed a slight rise in public confidence in the force, with the number of people perceiving a problem with crime in their community down marginally and a small rise in the number of people seeing that police are dealing with issues in their neighbourhood.

Burglary, robbery and car crime are higher than in other parts of the country and the Home Office is monitoring the situation.

The 90-day plan includes cutting bureaucracy and civilianising administration roles to free up officers and get more on the streets.

Councillor Paul Murphy, chairman of Greater Manchester Police Authority, said: “It’s extremely reassuring to see that the early signs of success the force has recently been reporting to the authority are evident in the Government statistics.

“But we still have a way to go before the authority is satisfied that the force is consistently achieving first-class results across the board and we’ll continue to robustly scrutinise the force and hold the Chief Constable to account as the force strives to achieve this.”