GMP are putting their faith in a "New Tricks" approach to bolstering the thin blue line. Just like in the long-running TV drama the force is hoping the return of retired officers with nous acquired by years of service will help crimefighting.
In the show, which ran for 12 years and starred Amanda Redman, James Bolam, Alun Armstrong, and Dennis Waterman, old cops were brought back to investigate unsolved crime. GMP have previously done the same to help with its Cold Case Unit and support for the Major Incident Team.
But now the force has recruited thirty former officers, who will be used across several departments. One returning officer is Detective Chief Inspector Lee Hopwood, who spent almost 30 years at GMP in Rochdale and Oldham, and last worked in counter-terrorism.
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He will be taking up a new role in GMP’s Investigations Inspection Team to work in the background and advise on ongoing investigations. DCI Hopwood, 52, who originally joined the force in 1992, said: “I spent 29-and-a-half years at GMP and wasn’t really ready to go, and I returned within a month as a civilian to teach student detectives. I did that for a year but when I saw the opportunity to return to the force, I jumped at it. All of the returning officers bring a huge amount of experience, experience that would be lost otherwise.”
A group of 15 officers with a combined service of more than 400 years were brought back into the force this month. The group was made up of nine PCs, five sergeants and a detective chief inspector with previous experience including CID, firearms, child protection and roads policing.
GMP currently 7,942 serving police officers, compared to 6,787 in November 2019. It is hoped there will by more than 8,000 by the end of March.
Chief Superintendent Niall Hayden-Pawson, of GMP’s Police Uplift Programme, said: “The returning officers have a wide range of skills that are exactly what GMP is looking for. We have officers and uniformed sergeants returning to frontline duties in our districts including City of Manchester, Rochdale, Salford and Trafford, as well officers working in a number of different force areas including custody, special operations, firearms and response roles.
“Some of them have really missed working at GMP and wanted to come back to work for us again. They will now undergo a three-week training course, which is a lot shorter than the 19 weeks that new student officers undergo.
“That means the process is cost-effective as we have already invested previously in these people, plus it assists us with the uplift in numbers that the chief constable has promised as part of his Plan on a Page.”
In total, 33 officers are coming back to GMP in the next couple of months through the re-engagement scheme advertised in September last year to fill a variety of roles with two more groups due to return in March.
In 2021 the force reverted back to its old-style of having a Chief Supt for every borough in Greater Manchester, after several years where one Chief Supt had responsibility for two or even three. It what was described as the 'most ambitious senior recruitment process in GMP history', six further chief superintendents were appointed in 'crucial roles' - such as in safeguarding and intelligence.
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