Additional officers to be deployed after increase in calls

Extra officers will be available in the week ahead by Greater Manchester Police after an increase in the number of incidents being reported - most of which have been categorised as 'high priority'. 

The force say it has experienced high volumes of calls to its control room since Monday and has redistributed officers from other units to ensure additional officers are available for frontline policing. 

GMP is also appealing to residents to report non-emergencies online at https://www.gmp.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ to reduce the waiting time for urgent calls. 

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes said: "Officers and staff continue to play a vital and challenging role in the effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, while still dealing with a high volume of non-virus related incidents including serious and complex cases.

"There has been a significant increase in calls received into our control room in the last few days, with the majority of those being categorised as high priority. To help cope with this influx of incidents, we have taken the decision to re-distribute officers from other units to front line policing, to cope with the extra demand that we are experiencing at this time.

"I would ask the public that if you need to report a non-urgent crime, then please consider using our online methods of reporting. These reports are sent straight to our control room and will help reduce the 101 call waiting time."

"As always, the force’s main priority is to keep our local communities safe and we continue to deliver a high standard of policing to Greater Manchester."