A PROBLEM with police IT systems has been escalated to a 'critical incident' by senior officers.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has been dealing with issues with their computers for some time but yesterday (Tuesday) a failed upgrade created further chaos.

It is believed that officers can no longer enter new information about crimes and offenders into the system and that in some cases this data is even being recorded on paper.

In a statement released today, the force said its staff could still view entries on the system and that "robust contingency plans" were in place to fix the issue.

A spokesman explained that the decision to bump the problems up to 'critical incident' status was meant to provide more resources to fix the problems.

The error is affecting the part of the system called Police Works, which is used by most officers. There is also a separate section called Control Works but this has not suffered from any problems.

In the latest statement on the issue, a spokesman for GMP said: "There was a planned upgrade to GMP’s computer system, PoliceWorks, yesterday, which unfortunately on implementation identified some data inputting system errors.

"However, we have robust contingency plans in place that are being successfully executed across the force, to minimise this disruption.

"Officers remain able to view all information in the system and contingency plans are in place for the capture of all data while the situation is being resolved. Part of this plan includes officers using paper to record data, and although this does create a slight delay, we are managing that risk."

The system used by police is called iOPs (Integrated Police Operating System) and was installed at a cost of £29m around six months ago.