Home Secretary Should Review Role of IOPC

SOUTH Yorkshire Police Federation has called for a review into the IOPC to change it into a supervisory body.

Chairman Steve Kent said it was wrong that officers are investigated by people who are “simply not qualified to do it”.

Steve said he would have liked the opportunity to quiz Home Secretary Priti Patel on this issue at the annual Police Federation of England and Wales conference.

The event has has been cancelled this year due to Covid-19.

Steve said he was concerned about misconduct cases that went on for years, only for the IOPC to back out and the cases collapse.

He said: “Is it not time to review the IOPC and maybe reform it into a supervisory-only body as opposed to an investigative one, as it keeps proving that it is not fit for purpose for investigating police officers?

“That question to Priti Patel would be: are you going to review them in the light of their incompetence? Because they cannot continue as they are.

“There’s always going to be a supervisory body now for policing. We get that. Absolutely. But they should be a review-only body and not an investigative one, because it’s absolutely wrong that police officers are investigated by people who are simply not qualified to do it.”

Steve said he hoped the Home Secretary would have been open to looking into the IOPC and reviewing its practices.