Home Secretary ‘appalled’ at claims linked to GMP computer glitches
THE Home Secretary has described reports of alleged child safeguarding failures linked to GMP’s troubled computer system iOps as ‘horrendous’ and ‘appalling.’
Priti Patel promised to investigate concerns raised about the IT system at a hearing of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Chris Green, MP for Bolton West, said the M.E.N. had collected ‘a substantial amount of evidence of widespread concern from frontline officers.’ Mr Green mentioned an incident of a baby in Bolton suffering a serious head injury that is the subject of a serious case review, saying ‘there’s a suspicion that iOps may have played a part in some way.’
Ms Patel said: “That is horrendous, it’s absolutely appalling. Obviously safeguarding of children is absolutely vital, I will take this away and have a look at it.”
She also said that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services should be ‘involved.’
The Manchester Evening News reported on the case involving a baby that suffered a fractured skull on September 30 and has been temporarily taken into care. GMP confirmed that both a serious case review and an internal professional standards investigation have been launched, but refused to discuss any potential role the computer system may have played in the incident.
The M.E.N understands that last week force command launched an urgent operation, codenamed Alban, in a bid to address a 68 per cent rise in open investigations before the inspectors arrive.
We have published a series of investigations into problems with the £29m IT system since it was launched in July. We revealed that
GMP is now facing a huge backlog of ‘open’ crimes that need investigating, from 25,000 beforehand to around 42,000. Among them has been a 5,000-strong backlog of safeguarding concerns.
GMP has said: “As we have previously said, this is a major IT transformation project, which we know has created some significant challenges for officers and staff across the force.
“We only went live with iOPS three months ago and are still in the early stages of this major IT transformation project.”