Greater Manchester Police praised for its excellent work done to tackle modern slavery

The Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Kevin Hyland OBE, yesterday released an anti-slavery report, highlighting the excellent work the Greater Manchester Police has been doing to tackle modern slavery.

In the 12 months leading up to March 2016, the GMP recorded 80 crimes, with the trend continuing to rise.

Over the same period, 143 victims of modern slavery in the Greater Manchester area were referred to the National Referral Mechanism. 

Speaking yesterday about the achievement, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “We welcome the report released by the Anti-Slavery Commissioner today, which highlights the excellent work done by Greater Manchester Police to tackle modern slavery.

“In 2015 we set up a dedicated Modern Slavery Unit and specially trained officers have been working hard to disrupt traffickers, bring them to justice and support victims.

“We remain committed to tackling modern slavery, but we must never lose sight of the fact that behind every statistic is a real person who has gone through a terrible ordeal and is in desperate need of help.

“There is still more to do but rescuing people from this horrific crime remains an absolute priority and we will continue to work alongside other police forces and partner organisations to ensure we can rescue more victims.

“The public have a role to play too and I encourage [them] to take a look around and if something doesn’t look right, tell us about it so we can investigate further.”