Police in Greater Manchester are to be ordered to wear name badges on duty to improve 'customer service'.

All 8,100 officers along with 4,000 civilian staff will be ordered to wear the magnetic tags which will display their full name and rank. GMP is the first force in the country to require all officers to display their names, although others have trialled similar schemes for selected staff.

Plain clothes detectives will not be exempt from wearing the badges, which are similar to those worn by shop assistants and bank clerks.

But police working undercover or officers wearing riot gear will be allowed to take off the badges.

At the moment, officers are only publicly identified by a collar number woven into their jackets.

Criticism

The Metropolitan Police announced plans last month to require some officers to wear name badges in response to criticism that officers failed to display their ID numbers during last April's G20 demonstrations.

However, the badges will only have to be worn by about a quarter of officers at the Met who work in specific areas of policing.

GMP Chief Constable Peter Fahy, who has already started wearing his badge, has brought in the policy as part of a drive to improve the force's image with the public.

The cost of issuing the badges to every officer and staff member has been put at £21,000.

The force last year started giving officers lessons in courtesy after rising numbers of complaints about rudeness and incivility shown by police.

Mr Fahy, said the name badges would also help create a better relationship between the police and public.

He said: "It's part of our commitment to customer service and will make us more open and accountable.”

The new GMP name tags have been welcomed by most officers but some have expressed concerns.

Ridicule

One said: “A name badge could be regarded as a trophy for some people if they get involved in a tussle with an officer and it could then be used by someone who wants to pose as a police officer. Officers with unusual names might be left open to ridicule.”

The Greater Manchester branch of the Police Federation, which represents 8,000 rank-and-file officers, has questioned whether the investment is appropriate as the force struggles with a £5m budget shortfall, with plans to axe 300 posts and 150 civilian jobs at risk.

Federation spokesman Inspector Ian Hanson said: “We have some reservations as to whether this is appropriate spending with the cutbacks the force is looking at making in police officer numbers.

“The federation has no issue with this in principle and neither do most police officers. It's a question of whether it is the appropriate time and I'm sure the public of Greater Manchester would rather use the money on another police officer than on badges. This is something we should be looking at in two or three year when we have the books balanced.”