Police handling of complaints is inconsistent, says IOPC

An overall fall in the number of complaints against the police masks wide discrepancies in the way police forces handle them, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said today.

The national police complaints statistics for England and Wales 2017/18 show that some forces choose to formally investigate most allegations made against them, while others use the less formal ‘local resolution’ process. This points to an overly complex complaints system and changes coming into effect next year to simplify complaints handling are welcomed by the IOPC.

The statistics show:

• A total of 31,671 complaints were recorded by forces - a decrease of 7 per cent on 2016/17’s figure.
• Each complaint may consist of more than one allegation and there was a small reduction in the number of allegations recorded. 274 allegations per 1,000 employees were recorded, compared to 279 in 2016/17.
• The proportion of allegations being dealt with by the less formal local resolution process vary between 10 and 75 per cent across forces in England and Wales. Overall, 42 per cent of allegations finalised in 2017/18 were locally resolved by police and 44 per cent were locally investigated.
• Thirty-nine per cent of complaints made against police fall into a broadly-defined ‘other neglect or failure in duty’ category; The second largest category of ‘incivility, impoliteness and intolerance’ accounted for 12 per cent of all complaints. Work is underway to define the complaint categories in a more meaningful way.
• In 2017/18, the total number of appeals received across the police complaints system fell by eight per cent from 7,564 to 6,943. There was a 14 per cent drop in the total number of appeals made against the outcome of force investigations.

Director General Michael Lockwood said:

“At the heart of a complaint is someone unhappy with the service they received or the way they have been treated by their police force. What’s more important than the overall numbers is how complaints are viewed by the forces themselves. They offer forces a great opportunity to learn from, and address any common concerns that their local communities express. Done properly, this can be really positive for police and community relations.

“The complaint statistics we collect are invaluable for drawing together the data from all police forces into one place. The handling of complaints varies a great deal and we hope that changes next year promote a culture across policing which is more consistent and transparent. This year’s drop in recorded complaints may mean that forces are already adopting some of the changes and dealing with some less serious complaints outside the formal system. If complainants are satisfied with this approach, it is to be encouraged. We want police forces to view complaints as an opportunity, not as a threat.”

A number of changes to the complaints system will be introduced in 2019. As part of our work to support the changes, we plan to improve how allegations are defined, so the categories provide more clarity about what specifically is being complained about.

We are also ensuring that in future, less serious complaints dealt with outside the formal system will be captured and logged so we can see clearly what is driving people to complain at all levels. This new data will assist the police service and our own thematic work to make improvements to policing as a whole.

For a full breakdown of the complaints statistics please see the full report here.

For more information on our statutory guidance visit Information for police

A glossary of terms can be found in annex A of the full report.