Tory accuses GMP leaders of turning officers into 'woke warriors'

A Tameside Tory has accused senior Greater Manchester Police leaders of turning officers into 'woke warriors'.

But the borough's divisional commander says he wants his staff ‘cleaning the streets up’, ‘kicking doors in’ and holding crooks to account. 

He insisted efforts are being made to take the fight to criminals.

“It may seem old fashioned, but that’s exactly what I want, I want bellies up against the counter,” he added.

Stalybridge South Councillor Liam Billington (pictured) told a scrutiny panel meeting that there had been a ‘wrong prioritisation’ at the top of the force of the kind of crimes to tackle in the region.

However, police officers said that much of the work they do is ‘invisible to the average person’ including complex safeguarding investigations.

Superintendent Rob Cousen, Divisional Commander at Tameside, and temporary Chief Superintendent for Oldham and Tameside, Rachael Harrison, were giving councillors an update on Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary inspection of GMP.

Coun Billington said: “What I’m about to say is no reflection on our beat officers, who do work very hard, I do think over the past couple of years there has been a wrong prioritisation from senior leadership where the police have essentially turned into woke warriors. 

“Not prioritising the right crimes for the average person who lives next door to you.

“And people become disheartened with that and it really does taint the image of the police and the trust in the police as well.”

He told the place and external relations scrutiny panel that ‘people want to see action’.

Chief Supt Harrison replied: “A lot of what we do is invisible to your average person on the street. Complex safeguarding is a good example of that.”

In response to concerns raised by Labour Councillor David Sweeton about the force’s struggle to tackle drug crime, Supt Cousen said they were also working to ‘take the fight to criminals’.

“I make no apologies for saying this, I want my staff out and I want them cleaning the streets up,” he added.

“I want them kicking doors in and it may seem old fashioned but that’s exactly what I want, I want bellies up against the counter, I want people held to account.

“And it doesn’t matter how big or low the crime is, the only way we’re going to stop demand is actually if we take the fight to criminals.”

He added: “And yes, there is an absolute place for programmes where we try and rehabilitate offenders and I agree with that, and there’s a lot of work we need to do in terms of education and that’s why we’ve got the schools based officers as well.

“I do a weekly summary to all the staff, I make it really clear – get out there and go and take the fight to the criminals because this is the only way we will reduce demand and it’s the only way we will build trust and confidence. 

“We’ve actually had some outstanding results over the past two or three months in terms of taking some really dangerous criminals for burglary, some really good drugs recoveries, taking lots of money off the streets.

“When we take money off criminals we can then reinvest it back into communities.”

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