'Advice & Re-Training' For GMP Officers

Wed, 10 March 2010 Courtesy of: Greater Manchester Police

Greater Manchester Police have issued a statement regarding an incident in Wigan in June 2007 when a male being arrested suffered considerable injury including the loss of sight in one eye as a result of the struggle between him and police officers.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said "GMP agree with the findings of the IPCC report and regret the serious injuries that this man suffered. We must however take into account the volatile and hostile situation that the officers were faced with on that night.

"This man, who suffers from mental health issues, had taken a considerable amount of amphetamines that night which effected his behaviour. He acted in an extremely violent and unstable manner and continued to fight against every effort made to restrain him. He not only posed a serious risk to the officers and members of the public, but also to himself.

“evidence against the officers has not been tested in either a court or tribunal”

"This however, does not excuse the fact that this man suffered serious injuries and as a result we immediately removed these officers from frontline operational duties following the incident in June 2007.

"GMP were disappointed that this case collapsed at court due to the man's poor mental state and also due to an error in evidential procedures. It is for exactly these reasons that there was insufficient evidence to allow a misconduct hearing to be held. As a result the evidence against the officers has not been tested in either a court or tribunal, therefore I think that it is highly inappropriate to make any personal comment which passes judgement on what took place.

"Because the other proceedings were not an option we concluded the case with the recommendations that the officers would receive formal advice and retraining prior to returning to operational duties. The IPCC fully agreed and supported this decision."