PFEW: “Forces should not investigate officer complaints”

POLICE forces under severe financial pressure should no longer investigate the rising number of complaints about their officers, the Police Federation of England and Wales has said.

Alex Duncan, professional standards lead, said that a new independent body should be set up to deal with all complaints. His comments come as Independent Police Complaints Commission statistics showed a 15 per cent rise in complaints recorded against police officers and staff last year.

The total number of annual complaints rose from 30,365 in 2012/13 to 34,863 in 2013/14. It also marked a 52 per cent increase since 2004/05.

“The demand on professional standards departments continues to increase but their budgets have been top sliced to pay for an enlarged IPCC,” said Mr Duncan.

“In the current environment, police forces should not be expected to investigate complaints against their own officers.”

The Federation has long argued that the IPCC or, ideally, a successor body should deal with all complaints independently.

“Apart from anything else, this would help ensure more consistency across forces which is lacking currently,” said Mr Duncan. “This is one of the most concerning aspects of the issue.”

An increase in complaints against officers was recorded in 38 police forces in England and Wales. Cleveland, Derbyshire, Dyfed-Powys, Staffordshire and West Mercia Police were the only forces to see the number of complaints fall from the previous year. Northumbria Police saw a 98 per cent rise, the highest of all the forces.

Around 30 per cent of allegations related to neglect or failure of duty, while 15 per cent related to “incivility, impoliteness and intolerance”.

Mr Duncan said the rise was most likely due to an increased ease in making complaints, as well as a rise in public confidence in police investigating them effectively and efficiently.

“The biggest rise is due to incivility and neglect of duty and, while there is no excuse for this, there are far fewer officers with far more to do and unfortunately overworked and exhausted people are often less tolerant and understanding,” he added.