THE misconduct procedure for police officers needs to undergo reform, the Police Federation has said, after it emerged that officers can be under investigation for up to ten years.<\/p>\n
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The fact that officers can spend \u201ca third of their career\u201d being investigated for misconduct shows how in need of reform the complaints system is, Christian Borum, Vice Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOnly five police officers have been dismissed in three years [nationally] following Independent Office for Police Conduct misconduct cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigations can take up to 10 years, and that\u2019s a third of a police officer\u2019s career, where the officer is vindicated and there\u2019s no case to answer. I think we need to look at the legal test that is used to determine a misconduct case and whether a misconduct case should go ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigations have a devastating effect on police officers\u2019 lives and their families as a result of them just trying to do their jobs and protect the public. But I think the key message here is for the reform to take place. We need time limits on investigations. The IOPC needs to have a greater understanding of the evidence and I think they can get that with better training for IOPC investigators.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery police officer understands that they have to be accountable in order to maintain public confidence, but the human cost needs to be a big factor in investigations on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, added: \u201cThis, unfortunately, wreaks of hypocrisy in that the IOPC holds us to standards about how long we investigate things but it\u2019s quite okay for them to leave officers waiting years for outcomes in what appear to be moderately complex cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that there may be extremely complex cases but some of the examples that we\u2019re hearing are use of force issues that are taking year after year, and in that time the officers\u2019 personal lives are completely ruined – and that\u2019s not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Police Federation of England and Wales\u2019 Conduct Lead Phill Matthews said in January that too many officers were being put through \u201ctraumatising” misconduct investigations – and the effect on them could be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOfficers are stopped from transferring, getting promoted, they can\u2019t even re-mortgage their houses as they don\u2019t know if they are going to be employed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IPCC, and IOPC as is now, pursue the wrong cases and often have very little understanding of the evidence and give families and complainants unrealistic expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n