New IPCC complaints guidance focuses on ‘putting things right’

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has launched new guidance to make the handling of complaints more focused on acknowledging poor service.

The Revised Statutory Guidance, published last week, advises police on how to handle complaints, moving the importance from whether an officer committed misconduct and, if so, how they should be dealt with, to looking at the service provided to the complainant and making an apology to put things right, whether or not an individual officer is at fault.

The guidance states that complaints should be upheld when the service has fallen below an acceptable standard, and not just when misconduct against an officer can be proven.

The guidance also aims to cut bureaucracy and speed up how forces deal with lower-level complaints. It emphasises that individual officers should still be held rigorously to account where they are alleged to have committed criminal or disciplinary offences.

Chair of the IPCC, Nick Hardwick, said: “For the last year we have worked closely with police and complainant groups to develop the new guidance with the aim of giving the public a complaints system that is able to meet their expectations. The public tells us that when something goes wrong, what they usually want is it put right quickly and simply at local level, with an explanation, an apology and reassurance the same thing will not happen again.  

“The guidance will try to ensure that is exactly how complaints are dealt with. Sometimes when an individual officer needs to be held to account that will involve misconduct, but that should not be the only ‘tool in the box’. The guidance gives the police a broad range of responses available that are focused on addressing the complainants’ concerns.”

The Revised Statutory Guidance was approved by the Home Secretary before Christmas 2009 and came into effect on April 1, 2010. It contains examples for how different types of complaints should be handled and is designed to be used on the Internet, allowing easy navigation to the relevant sections.