"I have sought assurance that GMP will leave no stone unturned and do whatever it takes to ensure that no victims are left exposed to risk.." stated Greater Manchester's Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Beverley Hughes, in the wake of today's report into the Greater Manchester Police Integrated Operational Policing System (iOPS).
The report by the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, or HMICFRS, looked at "the issues and operational difficulties that have become apparent since the launch of iOPS".
iOPS was launched in July 2019, replacing three outmoded Greater Manchester Police (GMP) ICT systems, and was supposed to 'provide better quality information to officers and managers; allow officers to work remotely from mobile devices; reduce the need for duplication across multiple systems; and allow better information sharing with partner organisations'.
Instead, the report states, "the force saw a large increase in the backlogs it had across the organisation...During the implementation of iOPS, difficulties meant the system didn't work as effectively and efficiently as intended. The new systems also required staff to adopt new working practices. This combination of systems' failure and unfamiliar processes substantially reduced organisational and individual productivity..."
The report, conducted at the request of the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and commissioned by the Mayor's Office of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, adds that "MARAC [Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference] referrals for high risk domestic abuse victims reduced by 50 percent. As part of Operation Alban and to better understand its demand, GMP conducted an internal audit which demonstrated that in one area, between 1231 July 2019, only 28 percent of child protection incidents were referred to children's social care...
"...There were also 686 domestic abuse incidents which had not been risk assessed, in some cases for over 100 days" it states "...The changes brought about by iOPS meant that 137 requests under DVDS [Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme] went unaddressed for three months.
"...The introduction of iOPS changed the way in which victims of crime were referred to victims' services" it adds "The changes made the process more complicated and as a result, these referrals reduced by 87 percent. The force has subsequently adapted the process to remedy this. However, it has no plans to review those crimes that weren't referred at the time of report, meaning a number of victims may not have received the support they need.
Meanwhile, 999 calls, which should take ten seconds to answer, increased from 12 seconds to 48 seconds... "At the time of the inspection, the average time to answer a 999 call had improved to 22 seconds. However, this still fails to meet the national target...
"...Even when staff have received training, users reported that searches on ControlWorks and PoliceWorks sometimes returned inconsistent or incorrect information about risks..." the report states.
"We found examples where officers reported that they were unable to retrieve or readily access data when searching iOPS" it explains "In one domestic abuse incident involving a sexual offender, the risk had not been properly identified and it was graded as appropriate for telephone resolution. Unlike the old system, iOPS has no capability to search for different spellings of the same name, known as phonetic searching. This means the force can't be sure that its officers and staff have all the known information available when they assess the level of risk and make operational decisions."
In response to the mess, GMP began Operation Alban to tackle backlogs but, the report states, it "is diverting resources away from other important areas of work such as neighbourhood policing. It is not a sustainable long-term solution and has consequences for staff and service delivery, which the force recognises..."
Despite the negative publicity around the failed computer system and attempts to solve the problems, the report acknowledges that many staff "still lack confidence in iOPS and the PoliceWorks system", and "officers and staff told us they felt they were being blamed for the backlogs occurring and were not being listened to when they raised concerns".
Furthermore, "at the time of our inspection, there was no overarching plan which assured us of its ability to prevent the recurrence of further backlogs...The force is prioritising action on most of the areas of high risk, but it doesn't yet have a full understanding of the nature of the threat and risk that all the backlogs contain."
The report has nine recommendations...
1. The force needs to develop a full understanding of the threat and risk contained within all its backlogs. In particular, it should review all domestic abuse incidents recorded by the force between the launch of iOPS and October 2019 to ensure that an appropriate response has been provided and referral made to the relevant agency.
2. The force should satisfy itself that all districts have completed a full audit of child protection incidents which occurred between the introduction of iOPS and the implementation of a quality assurance process which commenced in October 2019,to ensure appropriate referrals to partner agencies have been made.
3. The force should take steps to enhance the search capability within iOPS to ensure that the facility for the system to search for different spellings of the same name (phonetic searching) is available at the earliest opportunity.
4. The force should review those cases where victims of crime were not referred to victims' services following the introduction of iOPS to ensure that any vulnerable victims receive appropriate support.
5. The force should ensure that all necessary data previously available on the legacy systems is easily searchable and accessible to officers and staff.
6. The force needs to ensure it effectively engages with partners at force and local level when undertaking significant change programmes.
7. The force should review its internal communication plan to ensure all staff are informed, consulted and engaged in the ongoing development of iOPS.
8. The force should review and evaluate the operational effectiveness of its training plan for iOPS to ensure all staff are appropriately trained to enable them to carry out their role.
9. The force should develop a sustainable approach to address the underlying problems with systems capability, training and the new operational and working processes.
"I do not underestimate the scale or complexity of this change programme" says HM Inspector of Constabulary Phil Gormley "It is clear some of the difficulties encountered were unavoidable. However, it is similarly clear there are significant lessons for the future.
"I have made a number of recommendations, which if adopted, will enable the force to address the underlying issues of system capability, working practices and staff training" he adds "I continue to monitor the situation and hope to see the force restoring staff confidence in IOPs and delivering on the ambitions and intended benefits."
To read the full report click here
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