The police authority is responsible for holding the police to account for performance improvement and this is a duty we carry out on behalf of the public of Greater Manchester. Ensuring crime is recorded in the right way is a key tool in building public confidence.
As part of our scrutiny and governance of your police force, Greater Manchester Police Authority is working closely with Greater Manchester Police to ensure that all incidents and crimes are compliant with the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS).
What are the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS)?
This is the national standard for recording crime that all police forces are required to achieve. The aim of National Crime Recording Standards is to be victim-focused and maintain consistency of recording across all forces.
inform where resources should be focused, e.g. areas of high crime, and identify where crime reduction initiatives are needed
give the public an indication of how effective the police and partners are in tackling crime
support investigations by capturing all information in one place
inform decisions on officer safety when dealing with incidents
What are we doing in relation to the National Crime Recording Standards?
GMPA has a lead member for quality assurance and we take our responsibility very seriously. We're aware of our duty to the public to ensure the integrity of data. Here are just a few of the things that Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) is doing to ensure the Force is meeting the requirements of the National Crime Recording Standards.
We work with Greater Manchester Police to make sure that police officers and police staff understand the crime recording process and the reasons why incident and crime records are needed to meet the National Crime Recording Standards. This includes visiting officers and staff on Divisions to see how this is being communicated.
We receive and scrutinise regular update reports from the Force on National Crime Recording Standards compliance. This gives us the chance to challenge the Force in areas where improvements could be made to the crime recording process.
We carry out 'dip-sampling' of incident and crime records to ensure compliance with the National Crime Recording Standards.
We observe observe training undertaken by front-line police officers.
We attend Divisional Quarterly Performance Review meetings, where the National Crime Recording Standards is a regular item, to observe how chief officers challenge their divisional commanders on this issue.