Complaints rise against police force

the inconsistencies we have recorded year on year. It is also not sufficiently independent, since some dissatisfied complainants can only appeal to the force that rejected their complaint in the first place.

“While some local variation is unavoidable it is clear that some forces need to look closely at their own performance and approach where it is clearly at odds with the norm.

“It is welcome that some forces have done this during last year, sometimes with the assistance of our own oversight team.

“The new system will be simpler and more flexible.”

There are three main areas of inconsistency in the approach to handling complaints:

The number of recorded complaints may not reflect the whole picture because some forces try to address issues before they are recorded as a formal complaint whereas others record complaints as soon as an issue is raised

When complaints are recorded some forces choose to formally investigate most of them while others use the less formal ‘local resolution’ process in the majority of cases

A dissatisfied complainant can appeal the outcome of a local investigation and this is dealt with by either the force, or the IPCC. The IPCC upholds four out of 10 appeals but the police uphold fewer than two out of 10. This figure varies considerably dependent on the force.