Ian Hopkins

Ian Hopkins, QPM, is a former senior British police officer. From October 2015 to December 2020, he was the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police.

Ian Hopkins QPM
Hopkins in 2016
Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police
In office October 2015 – December 2020
Deputy	Ian Pilling
Preceded by	Sir Peter Fahy
Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police
In office December 2011 – October 2015
Chief Constable	Sir Peter Fahy
Preceded by	Simon Byrne
Succeeded by	Ian Pilling
Personal details
Awards	Queen's Police Medal (2016)

Career

Hopkins joined Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in April 2008 on promotion to assistant chief constable. He started his career in Staffordshire Police in 1989 and has served in Northamptonshire Police and Cheshire Police.[1] In 2011 he undertook a three-month secondment as syndicate director for the Strategic Command Course.[1]

He was appointed deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police in December 2011 with responsibility for force performance, the Force Change Programme and corporate communications. He was promoted to chief constable of GMP in October 2015.[2] On 17 December 2020, it was announced that GMP would be placed into special measures following an inspection from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary that found the force had failed to record a quarter of violent crimes and one fifth crimes overall.[3][4] On 18 December 2020, he stepped down as chief constable with immediate effect: he had been due to retire from the police in 2021.[5][6]

Police cuts

Hopkins is concerned that cuts to police funding will reduce the effectiveness of the Greater Manchester Police. Hopkins, maintains he had hoped for 6300 officers by March 2021 but now expects only 5709 officers, which is fewer than there were in 1975. Hopkins stated:

"Clearly we would always look to save money without job cuts, but the reality is 83% of our budget is people and after eight years of efficiencies across all parts of the organisation – which has seen us make reductions of £183m – there would be little alternative but to cut posts, both officers and staff. (...) This would just get worse as we would have to further prioritise against threat, harm and risk, screen out more and more crime. Essentially we would just have to focus on providing a response function, a serious and organised crime capability and a custody function as the core capabilities of policing."[7]

Honours

Hopkins was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for distinguished service in the 2016 Birthday Honours.[8]

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Queen's Police Medal (QPM)	2016 Birthday Honours.
	Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal	2002 UK Version of this Medal
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal	2012 UK Version of this Medal
	Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

References

1. "Chief Constable Ian Hopkins". Greater Machester Police. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
2. Scheerhout, John (17 September 2015). "Ian Hopkins named new chief constable of Greater Manchester Police". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
3. Grierson, Jamie (10 December 2020). "Greater Manchester police let 80,100 crimes go unrecorded in year". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
4. Pidd, Helen (17 December 2020). "Greater Manchester police to be placed in special measures". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
5. "Greater Manchester Police chief Ian Hopkins stands down amid force failures". BBC News. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
6. "GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins QUITS as force set to be put into special measures". Retrieved 18 December 2020.
7. Police chiefs warn of fewer officers after Treasury shrinks budgets further The Guardian
8. "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B35.