Watchdog criticises forces over bias probes
THE MAJORITY of police investigations into claims of discrimination by their own officers are “unsatisfactory”, according to a watchdog’s report.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said the way West Yorkshire Police and two others large forces dealt with allegations had improved in the last three years, but there were still areas of concern.
It followed up a critical review in 2014 which said that complaints about discrimination by officers at Yorkshire’s largest police force were “poorly handled from beginning to end”.
In its latest report on the issue, the IPCC said police forces should do more to ensure allegations of discrimination made by the public are handled in line with official guidance.
The review looked at discrimination cases in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and West Midlands forces completed during 2016. It sampled 88 cases, 11 complaints made by police officers or staff and 77 complaints from the public.
The review found that forces were communicating better with complainants and there had been noticeable improvements in handling complaints generated from within the police forces.
But there were still concerns about the way complaints from the public were dealt with, as none of those sampled were upheld and the quality of investigations and reports was unsatisfactory in two thirds of cases examined.
Failings, which the IPCC says are common across the country, included not properly assessing the seriousness of the allegation, not asking probing questions and not seeking comparator evidence where relevant.
Dame Anne Owers, IPCC chairwoman, said: “This review shows that there is still a way to go before forces can be confident that they are dealing effectively with discrimination complaints that come from the public.”