'Too Many Senior Officers' at Greater Manchester Police

31 January 2013, 06:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Greater Manchester Police is being criticised for employing too many senior officers, at a time when the force is making big cuts.

The claims have come from the Police Federation, which represents ordinary officers.

It says having too many senior ranked officers, like those of Chief Superintendent and Superintendent, affects the force's ability to fight crime.

The Federation's Chairman Ian Hanson told Capital they have to take their share of the pain:

"The senior levels of management should reflect the cuts that we're seeing at the more junior levels and that would that would then allow for more police officers on the streets of Greater Manchester."

At the moment, within a force of just under 7,300 officers, 57 are Superintendents and 21 are Chief Superintendents.

But that, according to Mr Hanson, is way too many, especially when GMP is expecting to lose around 1300 officers by 2016.

"If the Chief Constable's asking our officers to take massive cuts to the numbers, those same kind of cuts have to be reflected at the most senior levels of the force. 

But Greater Manchester Police's Chief Constable has defended the number of top ranking officers, saying they are all in positions where they are needed.

Sir Peter Fahy has indicated that two chief officers have already been cut and proposals have been put forward to reduce the number of Superintendents by 11.