Transcript Slide 1

Police Accountability
and the Quality of Oversight
The Independent Police Complaints
Commission and Police Oversight in
England and Wales
Nick Hardwick
IPCC Chair
Aim
“to increase public confidence by
demonstrating the independence,
accountability and integrity of the
complaints system and so contribute to
the effectiveness of the police service
as a whole”
Core Values
• Justice and respect for human
rights
• Independence
• Integrity
• Valuing Diversity
• Openness
• Why create an independent body to conduct
civilian oversight of the police?
• How does the IPCC fit into other police
oversight mechanisms in England and
Wales?
• 18 months of operation:
•What are the successes?
•What are the challenges?
•Where next?
External pressures for an independent body
Lord Scarman inquiry into 1981 Brixton riots –
“widespread and dangerous lack of public
confidence in the existing system”
1999 The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry:
“what steps can and should be taken to ensure that
serious complaints against police officers are
independently investigated”
European Convention on Human Rights:
Article 2: Everyone's right to life shall be protected by
law
Public confidence in the police
• Public confidence in police is higher than other criminal justice
agencies
• BUT falls after contact with the police (BCS 2002/3)
My local police do a good/excellent job...
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Overall
Contact in last 12
months
Stopped on foot in last
12 months
• More people disagree than agree with the statement “they treat all
people equally, irrespective of race, religion or colour” of the police
(Audit Commission 2003)
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA)
1985-2004
• Full-time membership overseeing
investigations by police but no powers
to investigate
• Presumption of non-disclosure
• Police decide what is recorded and
supervised – no right of appeal,
no call-in
What were the key problems
with the old system?
1. Lack of credibility – the police were
investigating themselves
2. Disproportionate cost and delays
3. Lack of transparency
What’s the job to be done?
• 2003/4 – 23,849 individual items of police
complaints
• Almost 1/5 of all complaints about police
incivility
• Other significant areas of complaint – nonserious assaults; general neglect or failure in
duty
• 2003/4 – 100 deaths of members of the public
during or following police contact
The Police Reform Act 2002
- the new complaints system
• Covers all ranks of police officer, police staff
and contracted police staff in England and
Wales
• Greater access to the complaints system
• New rights of appeal for complainants
• New obligations to provide information
during and after an investigation, subject to a
harm test
• System for police conduct ONLY, does not
cover force policy - ‘direction and control’
The Police Reform Act 2002
- the new complaints body
• The Independent Police Complaints
Commission came into operation April
2004
• Independent investigators to tackle
serious police misconduct
• IPCC also has a ‘guardianship’ function
to ensure effectiveness of the entire
police complaints system
The Police Reform Act 2002
- the new complaints body
Mandatory Referrals:
•
•
•
•
•
death or serious injury
serious assault
serious sexual assault
serious corruption
criminal behaviour aggravated by discriminatory
behaviour
• serious arrestable offences
IPCC can also call in or forces can voluntarily
refer matters of public concern
The IPCC and policing oversight
in England and Wales
Tripartite governance
of individual police
forces –
Chief Constable,
Home Secretary,
Police Authorities
The IPCC and policing oversight
in England and Wales
Chief
Constables
Community
Policing
Consultative
Groups
Independent
Advisory
Groups
IPCC
HMIC
Police Service
Police
Standards
Unit
Home
Office
Police
Authorities
Audit
Commission
The IPCC - structure
• 17 Commissioners – who, by law, have never
served with the police – guarantors of
independence
• Building to 150 investigators by close of
2005/6; total staff to rise to nearly 350
• Budget 2005/6 - £28.5 million
• Based in 4 regions – North, Central,
London/SE, Wales/SW
• Advisory Board of key police and non-police
stakeholders
The IPCC - Investigations
Independent – IPCC carries out the
investigation using its own investigators
Managed – IPCC has direction and control of
police investigators
Supervised – IPCC Commissioner agree police
Investigating Officer, terms of reference
Local – Police investigation
The majority of complaints will continue to be
‘locally resolved’
The IPCC – Investigations 2004/5
REFERRALS RECEIVED
2000
1,518
1500
1000
684
608
500
136
33
92
Managed
investigation
Independent
investigation
Awaiting mode
of investigation
decision
0
Local
investigation
Supervised
investigation
Total
The IPCC – Appeals 2004/5
APPEALS RECEIVED
1200
959
1000
800
600
475
322
400
200
162
0
Appeals against
Appeals against
Appeals against
the non-recording the local resolution the outcome of a
of a complaint
process
police investigation
Total
The IPCC - Guardianship
1. Setting, monitoring, inspecting and
reviewing standards for the operation of
the police complaints system
2. Promoting confidence in the complaints
system as a whole, among the public and
the police
3. Ensuring the accessibility of the
complaints system
4. Promoting policing excellence by drawing
out and feeding back learning
18 months on – the successes
• Wide range of independent and managed
investigations – deaths following police
contact, public order incidents, stop and
search, homophobic discrimination
• Proportionate investigations - police firearms
investigation completed in under 4 months,
believed to be half the time of the preceding
system
• Professional investigations – developing
concentrated expertise and experience in
investigating serious incidents, eg police
firearms discharges
18 months on – the successes
• Quick-time scene assessments – over 100
early attendances at scenes by IPCC
investigators in year 1
• Ability to change investigation type as
investigation develops and changes
• Established IPCC in regions –
Commissioners and staff teams link to police
officers, force complaints handling
departments, community organisations, the
public
18 months on – the challenges
How do you maintain public confidence?
• dialogue with communities on a national and
regional level
• taking action when concerns are raised
• outcomes
• transparency
BUT – concerns that people with less
confidence are less likely to make a
complaint
18 months on – the challenges
How do you maintain police confidence?
• develop standards with police stakeholders
• working with all levels of policing – ACPO,
PSDs, Police Federation, UNISON
• outcomes
• transparency
BUT – also need to grow police confidence in
the complaints system as a positive way for
forces to hear and respond to community
concerns
18 months on – the challenges
How do we have a positive impact on policing
as a whole?
• quick-time learning fed-back into operational
policing – eg baton-guns
• research based on themes arising from
cases – eg mental health, RTIs
• outcomes
• transparency
BUT – how do we balance the IPCC’s
guardianship role with the Chief Constable
right to determine force policy?
18 months on – the challenges
How do we balance the rights of the
public and the police?
eg Openness:
• public want as much information as
possible, but also individual privacy
• IPCC needs to ensure disclosure does
not compromise prosecution or
discipline
• rights of police subject of complaint
18 months on – where next?
• Grow investigative capacity and maintain
commitment to reducing burden on police
resources
• Take on new business – Serious and
Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and HM
Revenue and Customs
• Lessons about mental health and policing,
deaths in custody – how do we inspire
changes in policing?
• How do we ensure confidence in disciplinary
outcomes when we are not able to decide
what happens?
www.ipcc.gov.uk