Description

Greater Manchester Police Authority Volunteers
An important part of Greater Manchester Police Authority is its network of volunteers. These are members of the public who give up their spare time to get involved in one of the following:
Appropriate Adult Scheme
Independent Custody Visiting
Strategic Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs)
The Appropriate Adult scheme ensures young and vulnerable people have all the support and guidance they need during the custody process. Fortunately, many people in this category have a parent or guardian who they can call if they are arrested however for those who don’t, the Appropriate Adult scheme provides a real life-line. The scheme is successful thanks to the members of the public who volunteer to be trained to act as AAs. Once they have all the skills they need, they form part of a 24-hour rota and may be called at any time of the day or night to help a young or vulnerable person as they are dealt with at a custody suite.
The Independent Custody Visiting Scheme ensures custody facilities are closely monitored. Members of the public volunteer to become custody visitors and during their trips to custody sites, they look at a number of issues from the treatment of prisoners and behaviour of custody staff to the effectiveness of custody processes. Volunteers report their findings to the Authority so any indications of problems can be explored and resolved.
There are currently three Strategic Independent Advisory Groups, each with its own specialist focus. They are Disability; Race and Equality; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. The IAGs are made up of members of the public who volunteer their spare time to provide GMPA with advice on a whole range of issues from the best way to make a document accessible to the visually impaired to providing guidance on how a proposed police authority policy may impact on a particular community. IAGs are sounding boards. They provide valuable feedback from specialist perspectives. They are not decision-making groups with authority to make policy decisions.
 
To find out more about any of GMPA volunteer schemes contact 0161 793 2920.
 
General info about GMPA
Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) is an independent body made up of 19 local people who are called police authority members. It is their role to make sure Greater Manchester Police (GMP) force is not only performing well but also tackling the issues which local people feel are important. This is achieved by close monitoring of police force performance and consultation with local communities. In addition, the police authority sets the strategic direction of local policing to ensure everyone benefits from a better police service. Here are a few other things about GMPA which you may not know:
·    GMPA is responsible for hiring the chief constable and their senior officers.
·    GMPA holds the police budget and decides how much local people should pay towards local policing through the police portion of their council tax bill.
·    GMPA works in partnership with GMP to produce an annual Policing Plan. The plan gives details of issues such as force performance and the outcome of inspections.
·    GMPA recruits members of the public as volunteers. The Authority has three volunteer schemes. One is aimed at improving effectiveness of custody areas (Independent Custody Visiting), another ensures young and vulnerable people who are arrested have the support they need (Appropriate Adults) and the third scheme enables local people to have a say when important strategic decisions about policing are being made (Independent Advisory Groups).
·   GMPA issues grants to local charitable organisations and good causes.
The 19 Members of the Police Authority are supported and guided in their work by a team of employed staff. Both staff and members work closely with GMP officers in many areas of work. To find out more about GMPA visit www.gmpa.gov.uk