Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have issued an apology to victims of the Rochdale child sex abuse scandal.
Dawn Copley, the assistant Chief Constable, said: “I want to start by saying we openly acknowledge that mistakes were made and victims were let down.
However, two victims of the abuse in Rochdale are to sue Greater Manchester Police after it admitted to failure in properly investigating the series of crimes in the town.
The Independent reports: A lawyer representing the victims told Sky News this morning that proceedings had been initiated against the service.
GMP announced this morning that no police officers would be charged or disciplined over failures in investigating child sexual abuse in Rochdale,
The police service has apologised after admitting failings “at individual and force level” when it dealt with abuse victims in the town between 2008 and 2010.
Out of 13 officers initially flagged by the force, misconduct notices were issued to only seven.
Of those, only one officer was found to merit disciplinary action. He was allowed to retire without sanction, while the other six were given “words of advice” by senior officers.
The force carried out its own review into its actions with supervision from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The report found that GMP put too much emphasis on the credibility of the victims of the abuse and did not focus on the seriousness of the crimes being alleged.
It said officers had also been distracted by performance targets on burglary and other crimes.
