It is becoming increasingly clear by reading numerous stories in the media and people posting their frustration on social media that there is dissatisfaction from the general public that many police forces have not acted when people have reported a crime, or the police handle cases inefficiently, are corrupt, act criminally themselves towards the public or favour protecting the abuser over the victim.
The Police complaints system is not fit for purpose.
When a complaint is made to the police it is handled by The Professional Standards Department which are members of the police force. I have had cases where they have not followed the P.A.C.E guidelines, have just generally tried to stall responses and exasperate the complainant in the hope they will give in.
The Police do not have to pay for their legal representatives and are paid too respond to you, where as the majority of public are not entitled to legal aid and have to find the time and resources to respond to the catalogue of Police correspondence they receive, either skirting around the issue or the content in the letters is not related to the complaint. The Police can point blank refuse to investigate your case, regardless of if this adheres to the P.A.C.E guidelines.
Police will rarely report them selves to the I.P.C.C and every case I have sent to the I.P.C.C they have sent it back to the Professional Standards Department.
They seem only to be interested in high profile cases.
Every county has to have it’s own independent board that investigates complaints if people are not happy with either: the way the Professional Standards Department handle their complaint or the outcome.
The board will be fully independent for e.g made up of a Police misconduct solicitor ( That only works on the side of the victim), a Barrister, a social worker, medical professional and a member of the public. (Obviously this is just a suggestion and how the board and who it would be made up of would be looked into thoroughly for the most positive and unassailable outcome) Including members of the public, possibly victims of crime on the panel would allow for there to be the least chance of corruption, to reinforce the chance of corruption, posts could be say only held for a maximum of 3 years. On no account would anyone who had any involvement with the Police or had ever worked for them would be allowed on the board.
The only way at the moment if the Police will not do what they are paid to do and investigate thoroughly is to take your own case to judicial review, this is exhausting, stressful and usually out of the financial reach of most. The law at that level is so complicated the majority of people without legal training would be unable to do this without a Barrister. An immense amount of the general public have lost complete faith in the Police, gone are the days when the local Bobby was a highly respected and trusted member of the community. That’s why we must force the Government to change and have a truly Independent investigating panel that the Police are answerable too.
This is for any complaint how ever small or irrelevant the Police may believe it is, or how ever much it will damage the reputation of the force if it were to come out in the public and that if is not investigated or not investigated in conjunction with P.A.C.E guidelines, the complaint can be given to the panel to investigate and the Police made accountable for their actions.
We have to act now for all victims of crime who have been let down by the Police and future victims of crime, please make sure you sign what ever your circumstances, sign for a fairer country where justice is done, because who ever you are one day the outcome may just effect you! Thanks for reading and sign now!
TED Database 