As the Stockport Express reports:

[Greater Manchester Police was] ranked either bottom or next to bottom in four national tables produced from the results of the annual British Crime Survey.

The tables showed that the area suffered from a higher rate of so-called ‘acquisitive crime’ – which includes robbery, burglary and car crime – than the five other English forces judged to be most similar.

It also came bottom in the proportion of these crimes which are detected.

In our area, in my experience, the police are doing a good job.  Our new Inspector Steve Gibertson (covering Stockport West: Cheadle, Gatley, Cheadle Hulme, Heald Green, Bramhall, Davenport and Cale Green) has picked up where Inspector Dave Turner left off.

The police work well with local politicians and residents, target their efforts effectively and are doing a good job – one of the main reasons why crime in our area is among the lowest in Greater Manchester.

Of course,  there’s always room for improvement and any crime is too much.  Also, people may rightly point out that our area is relatively affluent.  We have deprived areas, but large areas of Greater Manchester are substantially poorer.