GMP apologises after inquiry finds ‘serious failings’ in treatment of woman and girls in custody

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has issued an apology after an independent inquiry found “serious failings in the arrest and detention” of women and girls taken into police custody.

Commissioned last August by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and carried out by Dame Vera Baird KC, a former national victims’ commissioner, it identified “troubling evidence” around GMP’s use of arrest, care for domestic and sexual abuse survivors, treatment of women and men in custody, use of strip-search and the handling of complaints.

Recommendations to tackle these issues include setting up a panel that will regularly examine (using a process known as ‘dip-sampling’) arrest and custody records, strip search records and custody sergeant decisions.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson said the issues raised in Dame Vera’s report “speaks to a period when our custody system under pressure not performing to an acceptable standard”.

The inquiry was commissioned following a Sky News investigation into allegations of mistreatment of women held in police custody in Greater Manchester.

Since then, it has taken evidence from 14 complainants, including three men, who came forward to speak about their experiences between 2021 and 2023. It also considered anonymised contributions from trusted support organisations as well as insights from focus groups, independent custody visitors, police officers and civilian staff.

Cases heard by the inquiry include a number of victims of male violence against women subjected to shocking mistreatment by GMP. These include a woman strangled to the point of passing out by her partner, who was then herself arrested and subjected to a strip-search by police officers, and a child victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation who was arrested by the police after being robbed, and then strip-searched in a room close to the custody desk with a glass door through which anyone could see her in her underwear.

Dame Vera  said: “It gives me no pleasure to have uncovered what I have in this report. I have been horrified by some of the things I have heard and I’m so grateful to the people who have come forward.

“It is a testament to their courage, reliving their traumatic experiences in the custody of GMP.

“This may have started about three people in one police station but the public responded to our call until the evidence spread across every district and custody suite in Greater Manchester.

“While this report contains 14 personal narratives, there is a pattern between them which raises questions about the culture at GMP.

“My findings show that there is significant and, indeed, urgent work required if the public of Greater Manchester are to have full confidence in their police force.

“My recommendations are carefully thought through, based on the evidence, and I feel certain that they provide a firm basis for change.

“I strongly urge the mayor and chief constable to entirely abolish strip-searches for welfare reasons, in line with guidance from the College of Policing, and to ensure strong controls around searches for dangerous or illegal items.

“This is essential to protect the dignity and mental health of detainees, and I expect this to be implemented alongside fresh training for officers and scrutiny boards to hold conduct in custody practices to account.

“There are real problems shown through these arrests and the insufficiency of the custody sergeants to offer a check on the appropriateness of detention.

“I have asked the deputy mayor to assemble a scrutiny panel to look at three monthly intervals at  range of arrests like these at the lower end of criminality and a batch of custody records, to ensure the problems highlighted in the cases in this report diminish fast pace.”

She added: “It has been a privilege to tell the stories of these fourteen people, and if these recommendations are implemented in full, their bravery will result in real and lasting change.”

Responding to the report, which was published on Thursday (July 18), Mr Watson said: “Firstly I thank Dame Vera and those in the report for drawing together a number of critically important issues. To those given a voice by this inquiry who have not received the care and consideration they are entitled to: I am sorry.

“The issues raised in Dame Vera’s report speaks to a period when our custody system under pressure not performing to an acceptable standard.

“It evidences poor systems, structures, and incivility, insensitivity and compounded by a lack of routine leadership, scrutiny, and individual examples of low standards, poor behaviour, insensitivity, and a lack of care in the face of vulnerability.

“These issues are of the utmost importance and highlight the need to maintain the highest professional standards. These must reflect our duty, and moral obligation, to respect and uphold the dignity of all detainees but with a particular focus on women and girls.

“I know some of the questions this inquiry set out to answer have not yet been answered and some of these relate to allegations that have caused understandable shock and concern.

“These matters are all subject of continuing independent investigation and GMP will continue to provide the fullest assistance to those charged with establishing the truth.

“All cases where allegations of serious criminal conduct are made will always be taken extremely seriously and any instances of wrongdoing will be relentlessly pursued and my track record speaks for itself in exited people not fit to wear the uniform.”

The chief constable added: “We accept the recommendations in this report. We commit to implementing them fully and faithfully with a view to making lasting improvements.

“Our ability to take forward the recommendations is immensely strengthened by the substantial progress we have already made.

“We will work with others to ensure that all of the wider recommendations are fully considered and, wherever possible, will seek out opportunities for GMP to play a leading role in their practical implementation to ensure the people of Greater Manchester get the best possible service.”

Mr Burnham, said: “The safety of women and girls in Greater Manchester is a high personal priority for me.

“Likewise, I want people here to have confidence in their police force and I take my public duty to hold it to account extremely seriously.

“This explains why, when a Sky News broadcast in July 2023 featured disturbing accounts and distressing images of three woman in police custody, I immediately invited the former Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales to carry out an independent review.

“The deputy mayor and I asked Dame Vera Baird to report back to us on the experience of people arrested and taken into custody in our city-region with a particular focus on women and girls, on how GMP applies the law in respect of arrests and custody, and on the use of strip searches.

“Today we publish the Baird Inquiry and, though it makes difficult reading, I am in no doubt whatsoever it was the right thing to do.

“What it reveals is a problematic culture and practices that must change.

“Of the 15 people who spoke to the inquiry, Dame Vera concludes that seven were unlawfully arrested.

“As people will be able to read in the personal narratives, many of those people were vulnerable before their arrest, as survivors of domestic or sexual abuse, and did not pose a risk to the public.

“And yet, they were put through a demeaning experience of police custody and, in some cases, strip search.

“In all cases featured, there are examples of extremely poor, indefensible and inhumane treatment.

“A recurring pattern is what appears to be a lack of even-handedness in the investigation of disputes, where the more vulnerable person is reduced to a state of even greater vulnerability and those posing a greater risk to public safety do not receive the same attention.

“We will be accepting all of Dame Vera’s recommendations and asking the chief constable to consider implementing significant changes with relation to arrest and use of custody. As she makes clear, the level of harm caused by these experiences is huge and the individuals concerned deserve an apology for what happened.”

In a statement, GMP said it has “apologised and accepted the recommendations” of the inquiry.

“While some improvements to address Dame Vera’s recommendations have already been made, we fully acknowledge there is much more to do around the cultural practice of strip-search, particularly for welfare purposes,” the force said.

“We welcome an opportunity to work with national policing leads to accelerate our intention to cease strip-searches for welfare reasons, and to improve clarity and scrutiny around the grounds of a strip-search.

“It is also vital we continue to gain the trust and confidence of survivors and we are committed to ensuring all our officers have better trauma-informed training to ensure the most appropriate response is given to those who are vulnerable and need our care.

“We understand the shock and concern of many who will have seen the media coverage that prompted the commissioning of this report by the Mayor of Greater Manchester last year.

“We have fully engaged with Dame Vera’s report and continue to provide all requested and available materials in relation to ongoing investigations relating to the inquiry.

GMP said Dame Vera’s wide-ranging inquiry involves cases that are either currently under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), its Professional Standards Directorate (PSD), are subject to legal action, or have been investigated.

Anyone in the report who has not previously made a complaint will be being contacted by the force’s dedicated unit for professional standards, it added.

“We are fully committed to doing all we can so the public can have faith in our protection of women, girls and vulnerable people, and in continuing to improve the complaints process,” said GMP.

The force said it has already acted in a number of areas to improve its service in custody, including:

• It no longer uses anti-tear clothing;
• Every female detainee has appointed to her a dedicated female welfare officer;
• Bespoke sealed packs, which contain feminine sanitary products, are proactively issued to all female detainees;
• Strip searches are more transparently recorded, tightly governed and scrutinised; and
• A centralised standards and compliance team now examine between 150-200 examples of detentions a month to ensure adherence to the highest standards.

“The improvements in GMP since we were placed in ‘special measures’ in 2020 has seen us work to protect those we serve with us responding more quickly to incidents, arresting more suspects at the scene, recording and investigating all crime, bringing more offenders to justice, and bringing down crime,” the force said.

“This includes an increase in the arrests of domestic abusers 150 per cent accounting for nearly a third of all arrests. We have doubled the number of rape crimes solved and continue to work closely with partner agencies across Greater Manchester to safeguard survivors and protect them from harm.

“Where the public hasn’t had the service they expect from us, we have worked to improve our complaints system and are now ‘rooting out’ and ‘booting out’ those unfit to wear the uniform.

“Over the last two years, we have tripled the rate in which we’ve been dismissing officers who should not be in our uniform with the chief constable overseeing the removal of 86 officers.”

GMP said a significant amount of the concerns raised were highlighted by an inspection from His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary (HMICFRS) published in February 2023, where six causes of concern and 13 areas of improvement were identified.

“We swiftly acted with a comprehensive plan worth £3.1 million to address these concerns,” the force said.

“It included new and increased leadership, extra staff, additional technology and training, and greater accountability.

“In addition, £7.5 million is being invested for the reopening and refurbishment of Longsight custody. It will be our largest custody site and is set to become a flagship custody centre.”

In revisiting GMP in December 2023, HMICFRS concluded “significant progress” had been made such that they downgraded the six ‘causes of concern’. The work to address the majority of the areas for improvement is now assessed as complete.

Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for custody, said: “I welcome any independent scrutiny of police custody because it is central to how we learn and improve, especially as we are entrusted with powers that bring with them extra responsibility.

“Some of the details within the report are deeply concerning and it is reassuring that the recommendations are being thoroughly considered, if not already being implemented.

“It’s important that anyone who is held in custody is treated with respect and dignity, and that all processes including the use of strip search, are in line with legislation, policy and procedure. Mandatory training for custody officers was recently refreshed with a focus on recognising vulnerability and appropriate use of powers.

“Most forces have introduced independent custody scrutiny panels following guidance that we issued together with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) to increase transparency, improve performance and expand accountability.

“There are often vulnerabilities and complexities that should be taken into account when making the decision to arrest and detain someone in custody, particularly for women who are themselves victims of violence and abuse.

“We are currently reviewing our domestic abuse training to embed a holistic approach to responding to incidents, recognising the complexity of domestic abuse and need to protect victims.

“We are carefully considering the findings and recommendations within the report with the College of Policing and the Home Office.”

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Harding, director of Operational Standards at the College of Policing, said: “Every person who comes into contact with the police must be treated with dignity and respect. This is the foundation upon which trust and confidence is built and without this, we cannot effectively serve the public.

“Dame Vera’s report makes for difficult, but necessary reading. Today, GMP has apologised to those given a voice by the inquiry, who did not receive the care and consideration they were entitled to and the force has committed to implementing the recommendations in full.

“I understand that the contents of this report will cause further concern regarding the treatment of women and girls. I want to reassure all women and girls that your safety, trust and confidence remains a priority for the College of Policing, across all of our work.

“Dame Vera recognises the importance of the College of Policing’s guidance being implemented by all forces. Our guidance sets out important considerations to help determine if an arrest is necessary and how to care for those in custody, including those who are vulnerable and those with complex needs.

“Custody is one of the most complex and high-risk areas of policing. In order to support officers and staff we have invested in new immersive training which puts them in a live custody environment with real life scenarios, dilemmas and decisions that affect the safety and wellbeing of detainees.

“We have already been working with GMP as they have sought to quickly learn lessons and improve their policies and practices. We’re also supporting forces across England and Wales to strengthen their custody practices, so that every single person who comes into police custody is treated with respect and empathy.

“I am thankful to Dame Vera Baird for her thorough inquiry. We will now work across policing to respond to the findings and recommendations in her report.”

IOPC Regional Director Catherine Bates said: “Dame Vera’s report raises deeply uncomfortable questions – ones which must be addressed in order to regain the trust of those who have been let down by the police complaints process.

“An effective complaints system is vital for the public to have confidence in the police – they must be assured that when concerns are raised about the management of police forces and the behaviour of individual officers, these are taken seriously and dealt with effectively.

“The IOPC oversees the police complaints system, setting standards for how complaints should be handled and supporting police forces to meet those standards. We remain committed to holding the police service to account in their handling of complaints and conduct matters and helping to drive improvements in policing practice to build trust and confidence of those who have reason to make a complaint.

“Some of the issues raised in this report about the importance of initial complaint handling mirror what we have found through our own reviews of GMP and other force’s complaint handling. We have previously raised these with the force, and will continue to work with GMP as they work to address them.

“We are also working with all forces to help ensure professional standards departments get complaint handling right first time. This will mean a better outcome for complainants, and fewer cases being sent for review, which will ease the strain on the complaints system.

“Through our oversight work, we will now work with GMP as they address the recommendations in this report and monitor complaint handling to make sure the changes are having the desired impact. This report is a significant opportunity to learn and to demonstrate real change – the trust and confidence of the public depends on it.”

The inquiry made a number of recommendations, including:

• Establish a Greater Manchester scrutiny panel to review anonymised arrests, at the lower end of criminality, every three months. The panel should have membership from across criminal justice and the victims’ sector and feed back to the GMP senior officer team and the deputy mayor with any concerns about the necessity and reasonableness of arrests.
• GMP should refresh officer training on a number of areas including options to use voluntary attendance over arrest, and the effective use of the national decision model in determining whether an arrest is necessary.
• Quality control of ‘arrest pack’ arrests to help avoid unlawful arrests.
• GMP should ensure all officers are given training to help them to recognise and manage the effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors, so that officers are better equipped to respond to victims, avoid escalation of incidents involving survivors through physical contact with male officers, and avoid unlawful arrests of victims facing counter-allegations from a perpetrator.
• Create links with domestic and sexual abuse charities to offer support for women detainees who are found to be survivors. The female welfare officer provided by the force for each woman detainee should be responsible for asking the detainee about their need for this support.

Dame Vera noted that there was rarely a note on the custody record of a strip search, even when there is a video of it.

She also noted that some of the observations, conclusions and recommendations relate to matters “that are not unique to the police in Greater Manchester”.

In a statement responding to the inquiry, Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said they have “long called for transformation in the culture of policing along with accountability, transparency and leadership to root out misogyny, racism and other forms of discrimination wherever they are found”.

This latest inquiry follows a suite of reports and reviews investigating systemic issues within policing – most recently Baroness Casey’s review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service, which found officers were able to abuse their position of power and authority with impunity,” she said.

“Public trust and confidence in policing has sharply declined in recent years, following high-profile revelations about police-perpetrated violence against women and girls.

“Dame Vera Baird’s report not only illustrates how this is an issue that stretches far beyond London’s Met Police, but it also shows how perpetrators of abuse are often able to weaponise the criminal justice system and pursue prosecution against victims as part of a pattern of coercive control.

“Critical issues flagged by this inquiry include police call handlers failing in their duty of care to victims of domestic abuse, a routine practice of arresting victims without regard for the broader context of abuse, an overwhelmingly weak police response to domestic abuse, poor understanding of and over-response to minor misconduct by victims, a readiness to criminalise traumatised women expressing frustration with the police response, and police officers escalating situations rather than protecting the public peace.

“In addition, it highlights a systemic issue around provision of sanitary protection in custody as well as detainees’ rights to medical care.

“We call on the Mayor of Greater Manchester to implement in full the inquiry’s recommendations along with a plan for how they will be delivered in a timely manner. The Home Office, NPCC and College of Policing must also heed these findings and take appropriate action to stop others from going through such appalling mistreatment at the hands of the police.”

Ms Simon added: “We know these issues are not limited to GMP and urge the Home Office to commission an inquiry into use of strip-search in other forces.

“All police forces must be accountable to the public they serve. Due to their position of power and authority, there can be no justification for missing custody notes, gaps in video footage or any failure to be open and transparent about what happens to those in custody. We welcome the inquiry’s recommendation for greater scrutiny, which must include victim advocates.

“It is particularly critical that forces have a better understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse and other forms of male violence, so that victims aren’t arrested and criminalised. This is essential to maintaining trust in the police and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for Police, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, Kate Green, said: “This report makes distressing reading, and I am determined to take the steps necessary to give effect to Dame Vera’s recommendations.

“Dame Vera suggests a number of important measures to improve scrutiny and oversight of GMP’s treatment of those in their custody, and I am establishing a Mayoral Oversight Group to take forward the recommendations and ensure their swift delivery.

“This will include the creation of a new panel to carry out dip-sampling of arrests and wider custody issues, and a strengthened professional presence in custody suites to support our independent custody visitors.

“GMP have already begun an extensive custody improvement programme in response to HMICFRS’s critical report received last year, including a programme of work to increase voluntary attendance, rolling out trauma training, female welfare officers are now assigned to all female detainees and sanitary products are in cells along with welcome packs.

“Nearly all of those featured in the reports made official complaints and I believe that the failure of GMP to deal with these swiftly and effectively has compounded the damaging experience they had in custody.

“I had already strengthened my scrutiny of GMP’s complaints handling process. GMP are in the process of moving to a centralised complaints process with fewer cases being handled by local policing districts, something which has previously made responses fragmented and inconsistent. They have also increased their capacity to deal with complaints.

“But there is still a long way to go. The mayor and I are committed to ensuring that our police force continues to improve so that they deliver the care and dignity to those in their custody that they rightly expect and deserve.”

Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), said the report provides “graphic evidence of the unlawful arrest and detention of victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence and child sexual exploitation”.

“Reviewing evidence from both victims and police records, Dame Vera gives an unflinching account of the frightening and degrading treatment of women in police custody, including inappropriate strip searching and wilful failures to meet their basic needs,” she said.

“The police wield considerable power, which has manifestly been abused in these cases; the misogynistic bullying and mistreatment described in the report makes difficult reading and must be urgently addressed.

“The cases uncovered in this review add to the already significant evidence of toxic misogyny and abuse of power at the heart of policing; we know this is not restricted to one police force but is a national problem.”

Katy Swaine Williams, lead on CWJ’s Criminalisation Project, added: “Through our criminalisation project, based on evidence from survivors, we have been calling for changes in law, policy and practice to prevent the unjust criminalisation of domestic abuse victims.

“Some of the examples in Dame Vera’s report echo cases we have come across through our own research, including those where domestic abuse perpetrators make counter-allegations to discredit and punish their victim, and where traumatised victims show frustration with poor police responses to their situation and find themselves punished by the police with a charge of malicious communication. In these cases, victims find themselves stigmatised and punished by the people who should be protecting them.

“Dame Vera is right to call on GMP to remind its officers of their duty to protect all victims of gender-based violence, to ensure they understand the law on arrest, to provide properly for women’s needs in custody, and to ensure contextual information about abuse and exploitation is properly taken into account in any case involving allegations against a victim. She also rightly highlights the need for police training on trauma, to ensure they respond appropriately to traumatised victims instead of criminalising them.

“The lessons from this report should be applied not only in Manchester but in police forces throughout the country.”

She added: “These events have coincided with a collapse in domestic abuse prosecutions and – unsurprisingly – increasingly poor levels of trust by women and girls in the police, particularly among black, minoritised and migrant women and girls.

“Victims also need effective defences when they are accused of offences arising out of their experience of domestic abuse. When acting in self-defence against their abuser, they should have the same statutory protection as householders defending themselves against an intruder.

“When compelled to offend as a part of, or as a direct result of their experience of abuse, they should have the same statutory protection as trafficking victims compelled to offend as a result of their exploitation.

“Legislation is needed to modernise the law and end the unjust criminalisation of victims of abuse.”