'Urgent change needed' in way women are treated in Greater Manchester Police custody

The findings of an "explosive" report into the experiences of women and girls arrested and taken into custody by Greater Manchester Police must drive urgent change, its author has said.

Dame Vera Baird KC, the former victims' commissioner for England and Wales, carried out the review after being asked by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

It came after reports that three women had accused Greater Manchester Police (GMP) of unjustified strip searches after being arrested.

GMP has previously denied any wrongdoing by its staff.

Dame Vera, who makes recommendations for consideration both within the force and nationally, said: "I hope that my inquiry and this report will drive change where it is - sometimes urgently - required in GMP.

"My aim is strongly to promote a way of working in the police that will justifiably engender trust across the population and particularly among women."

Former GMP detective Maggie Oliver described the inquiry as "another damning indictment of one of the country's largest police forces".

She said: "Dame Vera Baird's explosive report reveals a shocking disregard for rights of those coming into contact with the criminal justice system.

Ms Oliver, who has since founded The Maggie Oliver Foundation - a charity supporting adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, said: "Many of those arrested were vulnerable women and we say that this constitutes a very serious abuse of power."

Dame Vera recommends that strip searching should be severely limited, properly regulated and fully recorded, and that custody officers should be reminded of their responsibilities for the accuracy and completeness of custody records.

In recalling her strip search, a woman given the name Maria to preserve her anonymity, told the inquiry: "The only reason they did what they did was to degrade me ... If I was a man, I don't think they would've done it. I was treated like a piece of meat."

Dame Vera interviewed more than 15 people who had been arrested and detained by GMP, including three women featured in a Sky News investigation.

Custody records, detention logs, crime reports, witness statements and CCTV footage were among documents and data that were trawled through.

Dame Vera has set out recommendations on domestic abuse, better custody provision especially for women, improved risk assessment and more humane and dignified treatment of all detainees, a lay presence in police custody and also on arrests.

GMP should refresh officer training for cases where voluntary attendance could have been available.

The report states: "The inquiry's conclusion is that many of these arrests were unnecessary or unlawful.

"In cases at the lower levels of alleged criminality, the balance should favour avoiding both the risk of poor impact on arrestees and the risk to public confidence from such arrests."

On arrests, Dame Vera notes: "It is of concern that in a number of cases in this inquiry where there is a continuing dispute, the police appear to have supported one side and taken criminal justice action - in particular, arrest - against the other party."

A scrutiny panel could perhaps help if there is "evidence of a wider pattern and, if so, to probe the causes and, if necessary, prescribe solutions", she added.

The report states: "GMP, the NPCC (National Police Chief's Council) and the Home Office should, forthwith, investigate the potential for use of equipment such as airport screening devices to eradicate degrading strip searching from police practice as much as possible. GMP could lead this endeavour."

Nationally, work could be done to see if two levels of strip searching, varying from thorough to intimate with the appropriate go-ahead, could be introduced.

GMP should participate in this work and pilot the model proposed in this report to move this "urgent agenda forward", Dame Vera suggests.

She adds: "From now on in GMP, if any strip search is contemplated, the detainee must be asked whether they have something with them they know they would not be allowed to keep, to give the detainee the option of offering items up.

"From now on in GMP, the reasons why any strip search is required must be explained to the detainee by the custody sergeant to the detainee in plain language, relating (a) facts and circumstances justifying it, and (b) why there is no alternative."

Breaches of the Victims' Code Rights, which obliges the force to give support to victims of sexual and domestic abuse, were found in the cases of Maria and Dannika, according to Dame Vera.

She said: "Maria was very badly treated by GMP", and as a domestic abuse victim she should have had a link to the officer in her case and to a local domestic abuse charity via the 24-hour national helpline so that her support needs could have been met without six hours of telephoning the police to get help.

The victims of the predator reported by Dannika were not referred for tailored victim support, they were not given a crime reference and an officer number, and were not updated on progress with the case.

Dame Vera describes the police responses in Maria's case as being "on a continuum between bureaucratic and unhelpful, and none of them acknowledges the police obligation to victims" plus the strip search custody record note does not refer to the power under which it was carried out.

GMP has been contacted for a response.

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