Investigation into how the Chief Constable responded to complaints from a member of the public – Surrey Police, October 2022

Across dates in 2022, a member of the public sent three letters of complaint to the Chief Constable of Surrey Police.

The member of the public complained that none of their letters had been acknowledged by the Chief Constable nor subsequent action taken in respect of their complaints.

As a result, the member of the public complained to the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, and we commenced an independent investigation.

During the investigation, we obtained witness statements and examined emails and complaint logs to understand how Surrey Police handled and processed complaints, and how the Chief Constable operated his private office.

We finalised our investigation in June 2024.

The investigation into the complaint made by the member of the public was not subject to ‘special requirements’ – that is, there was no indication a person to whose conduct the investigation relates may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner which would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

Therefore we were able to determine whether any elements of the complaint should be upheld or not. Based on the evidence, we concluded that no elements of the complaint would be upheld.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning.