Over 75,000 complaints made against police officers

MORE than 75,000 complaints were made against police officers last year – with the majority fed up with poor service.

The number of complaints was up 11 per cent, with some forces receiving almost 700 per 1,000 employees, the police watchdog found.

There was a 21 per cent rise in concern about service delivery, which made up just over half of the complaints in 2021/22. The next highest proportions were for ‘police powers, policies and procedures’ (20 per cent) and ‘individual behaviours’ (1 per cent).

Cases per 1,000 staff ranged from 90 in North Yorkshire Police to 697 for Cleveland Constabulary.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct urged caution when analysing the statistics due to changes to the complaints system.

But its director general Michael Lockwood said the increase indicated that the public were increasingly willing to voice concerns about the police.

Of the 33,602 complaints handled formally in 2021/22, just under half had at

‘Related to delivery of duties and service’

least one allegation resulting in no further action being taken.

The force provided an apology in 5 per cent of these cases and an explanation in 37 per cent, with 9 per cent of these resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant.

Mr Lockwood welcomed the fact the majority of cases were handled informally, adding: ‘In many cases these are being replaced with responses that are more proportionate with appropriate explanations and apologies.

‘In fact, the number of cases where an explanation or apology was given to resolve a complaint doubled.’

He added: ‘The most commonly recorded complaint type related to delivery of duties and service. These often relate to service delivery complaints such as a lack of updates or delays in responses rather than concerns around police misconduct.’

Mr Lockwood also alluded to recent incidents which have caused confidence in the police to dip among ethnic minority groups, adding it was important to improve the collection of demographic data for complainants.