Andy Burnham has asked men and boys to 'reflect' on their behaviour towards women and girls – but he admits that the police are still letting victims down.
The Greater Manchester mayor has vowed to make gender-based violence a 'big focus' of his in the new year which he wants to be a 'watershed' moment.
It comes as a 'high profile' campaign to tackle day-to-day sexual harassment in Greater Manchester was launched by Burnham as part of a 10-year strategy.
The metro mayor promised to learn from past mistakes in policing and spoke of the need to make women and girls feel safer using public transport at night.
However, he said none of that will work unless there is a change in culture.
But Burnham, who together with deputy mayor Bev Hughes, oversees policing across the city-region admitted that victims of crime deserve a better service.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that there are currently around 2,000 outstanding suspects of domestic abuse in Greater Manchester.
Months after a report by inspectors into Greater Manchester Police found the force was still failing vulnerable victims, the mayor said 'things are improving'.
He said: "We need to change policing and we've spent a year since the original HMIC report changing policing in Greater Manchester and asking for much better for victims of crime.
"Things are improving. They're probably not where they need to be yet, but absolutely, there has been a significant change over the last 12 months."
The comments were made at a press conference on Thursday (December 16) following the first meeting of the Greater Manchester Gender-Based Violence Board which includes victims and survivors of violence among its members.
Baroness Bev Hughes, who is the deputy mayor for policing, crime and criminal justice in Greater Manchester, will chair the board which will be responsible for driving the implementation of a new 10-year strategy.
The strategy commits to a 'sustained' public engagement programme aimed at raising awareness of gender-based violence and starting conversations.
But Baroness Hughes said Greater Manchester Police is 'nowhere near where it needs to be' and criticised the lack of professionalism by some officers.
She said: "I've watched some body worn videos. You might say it's surprising that the police officer knows the camera's on.
"But when you see the footage, you can see that it's not satisfactory the way that some people are being talked to.
"This is top of the agenda now in terms of police performance on domestic abuse and rape and serious sexual offences. But it will take some time."
The deputy mayor said that 96 pc of incidents are being recorded properly, an improvement since an inspector's report last year which found that more than a fifth of reported crimes are never recorded – one in four for violent offences.
Burnham said more government money for Greater Manchester Police next year should help put the police officers in place to deal with crimes properly.
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