Recommendation - Greater Manchester Police, July 2022

The IOPC recommends that Greater Manchester Police should review their processes for divisional arrest enquiries. In particular Rolling Inspector Logs which are being used in lieu of a digital records management system. In any review, consideration should be given to ensuring any system for managing and recording divisional arrest enquiries is auditable and minimises the potential for user error.

This follows an IOPC review of a Death and Serious Injury (DSI) local investigation by the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) of Greater Manchester Police, whereby an error was made on the Inspector Rolling Log and a person wanted for domestic assault was mistakenly recorded as arrested and therefore taken off the log. This mistake was not identified for 13 days meaning that the wanted person did not appear on the Inspector Rolling Log and subsequently no arrest enquiries were carried out during this period. Officers were then called to an incident whereby the wanted person had assaulted their long-term partner as well as inflicting lacerations to their own throat and cheek.

The Investigating Officer (IO) who investigated the DSI locally has suggested that as the Inspector Rolling Log is not a force form, it can be stored differently therefore consideration may be given to making it a force form which would then be auditable, consistent and stored centrally. Another point the IO raised was that when “priority wanteds” are arrested, consideration could be given to adding the custody number to the form in order to prevent a repeat of the mistakes highlighted in this investigation. Whilst agreeing with the learning identified, the IOPC recommends looking at the process as a whole, not just these points. It is important to have a unified process in place in order to negate a potentially very high risk if arrest enquiries are not carried out promptly in accordance with Greater Manchester Police’s Named Suspects Policy and Procedure.

Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

I am writing in relation to your email and attached letter dated 4 March 2022 which detailed the IOPC proposed organisational learning for GMP following a local DSI investigation into the serious injuries suffered [by a man] who had been circulated as wanted.

With regard to the proposed organisational learning, it is the IOPC view that GMP’s process for undertaking arrest enquiries within division is high-risk and there does not appear to be any system for retaining auditable records of the Inspectors Rolling Logs. Moreover, as a result of the unsuitability of the iOPS computer system, the Rolling Inspector Logs have been utilised as a replacement record management system. The IOPC therefore consider that GMP need to review their processes for progressing divisional arrest enquiries and that the Rolling Inspector Logs also appear to be being used to expedite Missing Person’s Reports within divisional areas, so GMP may also need to review this process.

In response to the IOPC proposals for Organisational Learning I have raised the issue within the Professional Standards Branch Organisational Learning Board meeting chaired by DCS [redacted]. The issue has been referred to GMP Business Change Team CI [redacted] and I am pleased to be able to inform you that a solution is currently under construction utilising Office 365 functionality. The new system will require testing and penultimate stage will be to present to ACC [redacted] for sign off.

There are some technical hurdles around ensuring the information is auditable. Microsoft are in the process of adding this functionality, but Derbyshire already use this solution and they have a third party provide the audit capability. CI [redacted] anticipates that we are two to four months away from implementation.

The IOPS system currently in use by GMP is to be replaced as stated by CC [redacted] , however the replacement has yet to be identified and will involve lengthy consultation and training in due course.

In the meantime, I have arranged for the Named Suspect Policy to be republished within GMP intranet for the attention of and as a reminder to all officers and this was published last week.