Mayor Burnham ‘to continue to challenge GMP culture’

Andy Burnham says he will continue to ‘challenge GMP to improve the culture’ following a week of bad press for the force.

The mayor was speaking to reporters at his office on Oxford Street yesterday afternoon (Friday), where protesters had blocked the road less than 24 hours before.

It followed a protest outside Rochdale Police Station, where Muhammad Fahir is from.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester’s announcement came after the IOPC confirmed it would start a criminal investigation against the officer filmed kicking and stamping on Mr Fahir while he was on the floor at Manchester Airport on Tuesday (July 23).

Footage of the incident came to light less than a week after the Baird Review was published, which found GMP treated some women in custody ‘like meat’.

“Policing is challenging all over the country. Police forces everywhere are facing challenges.

"They are not unique to Greater Manchester, we have seen disturbances in other places very recently - these have been difficult times for everybody,” My Burnham said.

“Police forces have been out there dealing with some of these issues in society, and I want to say I recognise the difficult job that are officers do in Greater Manchester.

"It’s a really difficult and demanding job - I am not making any comment on the individual situation, I am making a general comment here.

"It’s hard to be policing communities on the frontline at this moment in time.

“One thing I would say is something of things you have raised are [known about] because we are challenging GMP to go further to improve the culture in the organisation.

"That brings some things out into the public domain. We will never say nothing to see here.”

Mr Burnham called it ‘an intense and difficult week for everybody in Greater Manchester’, which ended with his meeting with the deputy mayor and ‘40 community partners’ in Rochdale.

“People spoke of the family’s appeal for calm - it was echoed in the room, and I am today amplifying that message as loudly and clearly as I can,” he went on.

“What they want is a process that is able to proceed of being fair to everyone, rigorous, and has input from Greater Manchester communities.

"That has got to be the priority now, so the full facts can be established.”

There has been no let-up in updates on the fall-out of the incident, with one councillor who attended a Friday morning meeting with GMP top brass saying it should ‘be a watershed moment for the force’.

During the same period, new Rochdale MP Paul Waugh called for calm while speaking on behalf of Mr Fahir’s family on BBC Breakfast.

GMP previously stated it was called at 8:25pm on Tuesday evening to an ‘altercation’ between members of the public in Terminal Two, before the officers were subjected to a ‘violent assault’ while trying to make an arrest.

Four men were arrested at the scene on suspicion of affray and assault of emergency service workers.

Police said a female officer was left with a broken nose and other officers were taken to hospital.

The force also said that there was a risk of the armed officers’ ‘firearms being taken’.

Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry stated on Wednesday night that the video footage ‘shows an event that is truly shocking’ and that people ‘are rightly extremely concerned about’ it.

“The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm,” he added.

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