Murder rate falls to a 20-year low

MURDERS and manslaughters in Greater Manchester have fallen to their lowest levels for 20 years, new figures reveal.

There were 35 killings recorded in 2009-10 — a drop of 58.3 per cent compared with figures at the turn of the millennium.

The 31 murders and four manslaughters across the region compares with 73 murders and 11 manslaughters in 1999-2000. It’s the lowest level since 1990-91 when there were 23 murders.

The murder detection rate for the past year is also high at 96.8 per cent.

Greater Manchester Police say the figures complement the announcement earlier this month that overall crime in the region is at its lowest level for 10 years, with 35,901 fewer victims of crime due to a 12.7 per cent fall.

Police chiefs say it shows the impact operations, initiatives and changes to policing are having.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “This is a significant reduction for GMP and reflects the hard work our officers have been doing over the past few years to make our communities a safer place to live.”

He added: “Thanks to the Policing Pledge, GMP has been working hard to ensure its focus is on front-line policing, keeping officers visible in neighbourhoods where they are most effective.

“This is helping to both reduce violent crime and make communities safer. We have achieved dramatic reductions in the number of firearms discharges and have also made huge strides in encouraging victims of domestic abuse to speak out before it is too late, offering them support and advice to break that cycle of violence before someone is tragically killed.

“We couldn’t achieve any of these reductions without information and people in the community play an important role in this.

“There still remains a number of undetected murders that people do hold important information on and are key in helping us to solve them. I’d urge them to support their community by talking to us about what they know.”

Det-Chief Supt Darren Shenton, head of GMP’s Serious Crime Division, said: “The drop in the number of murders sits alongside the huge reductions we have achieved in gun crime, which is thanks to our anti-gun crime taskforce Xcalibre working hard alongside the communities, partners and the Greater Manchester Police Authority in removing guns from our streets and bringing those involved in gun crime to justice.