IT\u2019S time the Independent Office for Police Conduct became a supervisory body and not an investigative body, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation Steve Kent has said.<\/p>\n
Steve has previously criticised the lengthy investigations the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) carries out into officer conduct \u2013 some of which have taken years to complete – claiming the affects this has on police officers\u2019 wellbeing is highly damaging.<\/p>\n
Steve said that although it is unrealistic to not expect the need for a need for independent scrutiny into policing in this day and age, the IOPC must step towards being supervisory rather than investigative.<\/p>\n
He said \u201cI know there is always going to be a need for an independent scrutiny organisation into policing, certainly in this day and age. So, I think for anybody it\u2019s unrealistic to expect there\u2019s not going to be that. But, what I would like to see is the IOPC no longer being an investigative body, and just being a supervisory body.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means that the IOPC would review the way that cases are handled from an independent point of view.\u00a0And they can scrutinise it, they can ask us to revisit things, they can ask us to maybe look at different aspects of an investigation \u2013 but they would not actually carry out the investigation themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve added that he was in no way saying that police should not be investigated, but that the process needed to be made much fairer than it is currently.<\/p>\n
He continued \u201cThere\u2019s a misconception that police officers will look after their own, when actually nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing upsets a good police officer more than corruption. So, if anything, by keeping investigation in house, those investigating will be even more motivated than anybody else to actually catch the bad eggs amongst us, because it brings us into disrepute.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ask that we leave the investigations to the professionals, and by all means the IOPC have an oversight and a supervisory role, but not do it themselves. That\u2019s where the issue lies.\u201d<\/p>\n
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