A councillor has raised concerns that residents have with reporting crimes online and how police officers liaise with informants.

Sean Fielding, who represents Breightmet, aired the worries at a recent Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting at Red Lane Primary School.

He said Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) online form asked for too many details and people found it difficult to complete.

The comments were made after Neighbourhood Sergeant Dan Richards said there had been a fall in the number of calls relating to off-road bikes from 30 in May to eight in June.

Cllr Fielding said: “I think there is something around expectation management when people are ringing.

“When someone says there is drug dealing taking place they will be expecting you to go straight there.

“You will say you are building an intelligence picture but people do not know where it goes when they call.

“The online form is hard, it is a mandatory form, you are asking for information like the names of people involved.

“When you are saying to people report it online - even to people who are online savvy it is difficult.”

Cllr Fielding also said some of the fall in numbers could be that people are being frustrated with not knowing where the information they are giving goes.

Sgt Richards said there had been improvements in the response time of police and Chief Constable Stephen Watson had made this a priority since he arrived at the force in May 2021.

But in relation to the online reporting form, he added: “The feedback we have had is that people are finding it quite useful.”

Sgt Richards also said if police acted straight away on intelligence passed forward it can compromise the informant as it can be obvious who told the officers what was going on.