I Need To Fix Greater Manchester Police
Let me state publicly that the above is my aim if I am elected Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2024. It has to be my aim because the Mayor is also the Police Crime Commissioner. This role has the responsibility for policing, but you would not know this by the words or actions of our current Mayor.
If we are to improve anything in our region then we need to regain law and order, otherwise anarchy will rule. This is an academic way of saying the streets will not be safe to walk, you will not be safe in your home, and you will trust no one. A great way to bring about the revolution that many woke, commies and lunatics desire.
I have worked alongside the police for two decades. When I was a council-manager, I was based in police stations and even trained police officers in youth matters and community engagement. I designed award-winning crime reduction projects, won police awards and even advised Prime Ministers.
Greater Manchester Police is broken, it has been for a long time. A couple of years ago they were placed into special measures for letting the public down. The new Chief Constable seems to be doing a good job within the tight constraints surrounding him, but I am sure if we let him off the leash he would do a lot more.
On day one of Mayor Buckley, I will sit down with the Chief Constable and inform him of what I want in terms of his service. I will explain my vision and his part in the plan. He will fully support it or he will be dismissed and a replacement found. I will not have the time to play silly games and political manoeuvring. I want you safe as soon as possible.
I will rebrand the police as a Police Force for I reject any notion of a Police Service. My administration will not have time to be serving the public, we will be far too busy hammering criminals. This one change will ensure everyone understands the direction of travel.
Identity politics will not be allowed to interfere with policing any longer. We will enforce the law without fear or favour regardless of what group you think you belong to, or what community you come from. Therefore, we will have no need for official internal groups such as Black Officers Group, LGBT Officers Group, Muslim Officers Group etc. All will be officially disbanded. Individual officers can continue to run such groups in their own time, but they will not have any special input into senior management decisions.
The investigations of hurty words online will be relegated to low priority so officers can spend more time on the streets, rather than investigating our tweets. We will stop logging Non-Crime-Hate-Incidents or any other attempts at unofficially criminalising individuals without standing in a court of law. I will stop our slow descent into the realms of the Gestapo.
We will withdraw from the College Of Policing which is a bureaucratic woke nightmare that promotes radical ideologies and politically correct guidance to police services. Greater Manchester Police will not need any external guidance for that is my job as the Police Crime Commissioner. And to save some money, I will not be appointing a Deputy Mayor to take on the duties of policing. This job is far too important for a deputy, which is why I will keep this role in my portfolio.
I will initiate a full review of the existing reports into the failings of the grooming gang investigations. Any senior officer who is found to have been incompetent, deceitful, or failed in their duty will be sacked. If they have moved to another police force then they will be named. This is the only way we ensure it does not happen again – by ensuring senior officers have skin in the game.
The recruitment of police officers will be revamped. All quotas and box-ticking in terms of diversity targets will be removed. We will be ignoring university degrees and going back to tougher physical fitness tests, having the correct attitude, and on-the-job training. Retired officers will be invited back as volunteers to help train new recruits.
PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) will be phased out – good ones will be fast-tracked to be police officers. Many PCSOs do a good job in specific neighbourhoods and are popular in some areas, but I want police officers clamping down on criminals – this is how we build community confidence and trust.
The internal promotion system in the police currently rewards woke officers and cowardice, I will change this. Old-fashioned traits such as honesty, dedication, competence, hard work, and a love of one's country will be encouraged and rewarded. The role of the Mayor is to protect the police from unfair criticism and I shall excel at this for I will be taking full responsibility for all policing matters. No more throwing police officers under the bus for political convenience.
This does not mean we will not be sacking officers - we will, probably quite a few. Incompetence will not be tolerated. Laziness will not be tolerated. Corruption will not be tolerated. I will clear out the waste so we can replace them with better individuals. I will not allow lengthy HR discussions on the legality of employment rights which are dragged out for years. Any dismissal which is challenged has the right to discuss it in court which is perfectly acceptable. We will win some and lose some. But the police will perform better immediately because of the removal of dead wood.
We will prioritise antisocial behaviour and violent crime for both these types of crimes ruin lives and communities. I will implement my award-winning triple-track approach to reducing antisocial behaviour: prevention, early intervention, and enforcement. No more ignoring the small stuff – it is the small stuff that ruins neighbourhoods and reduces everyone's quality of life.
Knife crime will be the violent crime we crack down on first for it is becoming normalised on our streets. Stop & Search will be dramatically increased. Offenders will be prosecuted and advertised locally to be a warning to others. If the courts let us down with sentencing then I will be highlighting this to national government – I will be noisy.
My police force will not back down from a crowd or complaints from a community. They will enforce the law no matter the situation - this is the way it has to be. There will be ups and downs along the way, and many negative headlines. But the streets will be safer, and most importantly, they will feel safer. I will take this as a win.
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