Police complaints lottery caused by complex system, says watchdog
A WATCHDOG has blamed wide variations in the way police complaints are dealt with nationwide on the “extremely complex and bureaucratic” system in place.
Figures released by the Independent Police Complaints Commission show forces in England and Wales logged 34,103 complaints in 2016/17 – a similar number to the previous year when 34,247 were recorded.
All four Yorkshire forces recorded rises. In West Yorkshire there was an increase 16 per cent, for Humberside Police 44 per cent, North Yorkshire 14 per cent and South Yorkshire one per cent.
The figures relate to reports made about the alleged conduct of police personnel including officers and civilian staff, as well as grievances raised about how a force is being run.
The IPCC raised concerns about inconsistencies in the approach to handling complaints from members of the public, warning that there is a “great deal of variation” between forces both in the number of complaints and the way they are handled.
Dame Anne Owers, chair of the watchdog, said: “The public need to have a high level of confidence in the police complaints system. If they complain about their local police force they should be assured that it will be dealt with robustly and fairly.
“The current system is extremely complex and bureaucratic and this has led to some of 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.”
Separately, Humberside Police revealed yesterday that one of its officers, Detective Constable Julian McGill, will appear before a misconduct hearing next week and faces possible dismissal.
He is accused of accessing crime reports, one relating to a harassment claim where he was the alleged victim and another to do with an incident at his home, when “there was not a proper policing purpose for doing so”.