New police chief looking forward to fresh challenge
GREATER Manchester Police’s new assistant chief constable will be the force’s highest-ranking Asian police officer.
Mabs Hussain’s arrival from West Yorkshire Police comes just four months after GMP’s chief constable, Ian Hopkins, said he intended to step up recruitment of ethnic minority officers in the wake of the Arena bomb attack.
GMP has been trying to increase the number of officers from Manchester’s diverse communities for four years – and Mr Hopkins said in May there is ‘strong support’ from Muslim communities to the recruitment drive.
The potential value of recruits from minority backgrounds – as a source of intelligence – has been recognised after the atrocity in May last year, in which Salman Abedi murdered 22 people and injured hundreds.
ACC Hussain, 45, is joining the Force from West Yorkshire Police, having spent the first 22 years of his policing career there.
He started as a uniformed police constable in the Odsal district of his home-town of Bradford in 1996.
Moving rapidly through the ranks he became a uniformed sergeant, then detective sergeant, detective inspector and detective chief inspector.
For a period he was temporary commander for Leeds – the largest policing district outside of London at the time.
He became district commander for Wakefield in 2016 and was awarded the MBE during the Queen’s birthday honours this year for his services to policing and charity.
ACC Hussain is a gold firearms and public order commander, overseeing large events such as Chapeltown Carnival in Leeds, Leeds United home games and, most recently, protests between the National Front and counter protestors in July.
He said: “I’m thrilled to have been given this opportunity.
“I have great admiration for the work GMP has done for some time, knowing they are a similar size to WYP and respecting the way they have responded to particularly challenging times over the years.
“Their commitment to public service and the demands I can expect to face in my new role were all things which appealed to me to join the GMP family.
“I am immensely proud of my time at WYP but look forward to a new challenge at GMP.”
After becoming commander of Leeds in 2015 he was asked what was the highlight of his career at that point.
He said: “The first time I put on my uniform.
“As a young Muslim kid from Girlington, to become a police officer and then experience the career I have had is something I am really proud of.
“It just goes to show that if I can do this, so can you.”
Chief Constable Hopkins said: “I’m delighted to welcome Mabs to the GMP family.
“He is an extremely experienced officer and he will help us to continue to drive the force forward.
“His background in large events and serious crime will help us continue to protect the people of Greater Manchester and his work around local policing will help us work our communities to keep everyone safe.
“I look forward to welcoming him to the force in the coming weeks.”
In May, speaking of his desire to increase the number of officers from ethnic minorities within GMP’s ranks, he said: “There is a big programme to bring people in because policing is a team and we need to reflect the communities we have in Greater Manchester to give people the confidence that they can come forward and speak to us.
“It is one of my absolute top priorities.
“I am the national lead for it in the police service as well.
“It’s great that our communities want to support us and want to be a part of policing and keeping everybody safe.”