Greater Manchester Police a year ago today (Friday) accepted the recommendations of Dame Vera Baird’s report into the treatment of people in custody.

The review identified issues around the 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. 

GMP has since become the first force in the country to stop strip-searches for welfare purposes, and welcomed the opportunity to work with national policing leads to improve clarity and scrutiny around the grounds of a strip-search. 

The force said it was vital for them to continue to gain the trust and confidence of survivors and have been committed to ensuring all officers have better trauma-informed training to ensure the most appropriate response is given to those who are vulnerable and need care. 

It further highlighted that they know there was understandable shock and concern from many who will have seen the media coverage that prompted the commissioning of this report by the Mayor of Greater Manchester last year. 

Deputy Chief Constable, Terry Woods, said: “Dame Vera Baird’s report was a hard-hitting and concerning read. It was clear we had previously fallen short of what was expected, and it required us to take action to ensure we had the best possible provisions and processes for all people who come into our custody – particularly women and girls. 

“By taking immediate action to implement all 26 recommendations in the past year – as well as discharging the last of HMICFRS’ concerns in that time – we have significantly improved our service. 

“This includes ending the use of strip-search for welfare purposes, providing all female suspects in custody with dignity packs including sanitary products, training all officers on our revised voluntary attendance policy, working with the College of Policing to ensure all officers are trained to recognise and respond to the effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors, and working closely with the Deputy Mayor to be held accountable at the Independent Scrutiny Panel. Every strip search is now reviewed by our custody compliance team. 

“This is work that we haven’t taken lightly, and it has been a huge effort from all concerned. Thanks to this great endeavour and investment, I can confidently say we are becoming the national exemplar we set out to become 12 months ago and we are working with national partners across policing to ensure we are sharing our good practice. 

“One key aspect has been around the definition of strip-searches; it was clear that the previous definition was too broad and confusing for both policing and the public. Therefore, we have locally refined this and shared our work with the College of Policing and the Home Office to push for a simplified definition across policing, to ensure greater standardisation and consistency. 

“We’re well on with giving our biggest custody site in Longsight a major upgrade that reflects GMP’s commitment to creating a safer, more respectful, and more modern custody environment. When this site opens at the turn of the year, it will be one of the most modern and advanced in the country and be representative of the changes we have positively made in the last year. 

“There are always improvements to be made, and it is important that anyone dissatisfied with our service feels able to report it knowing that their complaint will be appropriately dealt with. Our reformed Professional Standards Directorate has increased the quality of complaints handling and improved timeliness. 

“Where officers have been found to breach our standards then we have not hesitated to remove them from GMP with more than 100 officers being dismissed on the Chief Constable’s watch. Out of 14 complaints relating to Dame Vera’s report, four have been completed. Our PSD continues to review and investigate the other complaints, with some sitting independently with the IOPC. 

“We’re committed to being held to account for our use of arrests and our performance in custody, which is important in making sure people – particularly women and girls – can have confidence as to how their police force treats people in custody. 

“By its nature, custody has – and always will be – a challenging environment for our officers and staff who do a tough job, with almost 70,000 suspects being taken to our cells every year in GM. 

“However, basic provisions and processes must always be met and, while we’re confident our progress is being recognised across policing, we stand ready to act on feedback from those who hold us to account when they identify where we need to continue our improvement journey.”