Investigation into police handling of complaint - Merseyside Police, February 2022

In April 2021, Ms A made a report to Merseyside Police (MerPol) that her ex-partner, a serving officer, had been the perpetrator in a series of domestic assaults.

In February 2022, following an investigation by MerPol, Ms A was advised that no action was going to be taken by MerPol in relation to the reports.

Ms A wrote to the MerPol Chief Constable requesting her case be reviewed and raised several issues regarding the way the case had been handled and alleging discrimination and bias by MerPol on the basis that she is a female, and her ex-partner is a police officer. This was passed to the MerPol Professional Standards Department (PSD) to find resolution. Following an investigation, the complaints were not upheld.

Ms A then requested the IOPC conduct a review of MerPol’s handling of her complaints.  A decision was made that the complaints would be dealt with by way of independent investigation and not through an appeal.

During our investigation, we obtained statements from Ms A, MerPol officers and staff, and a large volume of documentary evidence. 

During the investigation we did not identify any indication that any MerPol officers or staff may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.

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. 

In this case, the investigation did not identify any learning.