More than 2,000 officers axed during seven years of austerity

GREATER Manchester Police has been forced to axe more than 2,000 officers since austerity was introduced in 2010.

It means the force now has about 6,000 officers on its books just as reported crime is starting to soar.

The latest figures on GMP’s website show that 263,297 crimes were reported in the last 12 months, up 60,926 compared to the year before.

It represents a perfect storm of fewer police officers having to cope with increasing demand for their services.

The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file bobbies, said this summer how the problem has been exacerbated by GMP having to deal with more and more reports of historic sex abuse as well as the threat of terrorism.

Pc Joseph Torkington’s letter suggests bobbies on the beat have rarely felt so underpressure. It all started in 2010 when the Coalition government – continued by the subsequent Conservative administration – introduced austerity to pay for the huge national debt following the financial crisis. Since then about £180m has been slashed from GMP’s annual budget. It means community policing, once the bedrock policing in Greater Manchester, has been decimated and the force is struggling to cope. In June, Chief Inspector Ian Hanson, of the Police Federation, told the M.E.N. that stretched police officers were struggling to cope in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bomb and reaching the point of exhaustion. Mr Hanson blamed a combination of savage cuts and a nationwide drive to fight terrorism.