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The IPCC endeavours to provide a service tailored to meet the needs of the complainant - for example, we provide our main leaflets in different languages and formats. If you have a specific requirement, please contact us to discuss how we can help you.
There is no time limit on making a complaint, but it is advisable to make a complaint within 12 months of the incident/s occurring. If more than 12 months have passed, and there is no good reason for the delay or injustice would be likely to be caused by it, then the police force concerned may not consider your complaint.
There is no limit on the length of an investigation; however the IPCC expects that any investigation should be proportionate to the nature of the complaint. Once a complaint is assigned to an Investigator they should be able to indicate how long a complaint investigation is likely to take. Unless alternative arrangements have been made you should be provided with an update on the progress of your complaint at least once every 28 days.
No, the IPCC remit does not include claims for compensation from the police. If you want to pursue any financial claims against the police, you should write to the Chief Constable of the police force concerned or to the Force Solicitor. For further advice contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or seek legal advice.
You can complain to the IPCC if you are unhappy with the conduct of an officer or member of police staff. However, this would not remove the fixed penalty. This also applies if you have been issued with a caution or have been issued with an ASBO. The IPCC cannot remove a police caution or contest the caution on your behalf. If you would like to challenge a police caution or fixed penalty, or contest an ASBO you should contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or seek legal advice.
No. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is an executive agency of the Home Office and does not fall under the jurisdiction of the IPCC. Any disputes about the information on your Criminal Record Disclosure are best raised first with the CRB. If a Criminal Record Disclosure has been applied for but you are experiencing delays, this should again be addressed to the CRB. If your complaint to the CRB reveals that the local police are responsible for what you are unhappy about, then you might think about complaining to the police force concerned.
If you are dissatisfied with a criminal investigation that the police are currently carrying out or have finished carrying out, then the IPCC can consider a complaint about the conduct of any police officer or member of police staff involved. However, this would not necessarily lead to a review of the criminal investigation itself. The IPCC does not have any control over the police handling of a criminal matter; we cannot review the results or instruct the police to reinvestigate a criminal allegation. These are matters relating to the operational management of a police force and should be raised with the police force concerned.
If you believe the recording or investigation of a crime has been prevented due to the conduct of any police officer or members of police staff, then the IPCC can consider a complaint about those involved. However, this would not necessarily lead to the recording or investigation of the reported crime. In the majority of cases, the decision about whether a reported crime warrants an investigation is an operational decision made in accordance with guidelines set by the Home Office. If you believe that a police force is failing to adhere to these guidelines, you should raise it with the police force concerned.
The IPCC is required to forward all complaints to the ‘appropriate authority’ which in the majority of cases is the Professional Standards Department (PSD) of the police force concerned. The PSD will consider how your complaint should be handled, including whether they must ‘record’ your complaint. Someone from the force may contact you at this stage in order to determine what you want to happen. The decision whether to ‘record’ a complaint is about whether your complaint is able to be recorded and handled under the Police Reform Act 2002. If you want to make a formal complaint about the conduct of a police officer or member of police staff, the PSD has a duty to ‘record’ it in this way.
There are some circumstances where, even where you want to make a formal complaint, a complaint may not be recorded under the Police Reform Act 2002. This may simply be because the police are obliged to deal with it in some other way. The PSD will tell you if they are going to record your complaint and will explain why they have decided not to record it if this is the case. If your complaint is not recorded and you disagree with the explanation for this decision, you have a right of appeal to the IPCC.
The IPCC expects the police force to provide a decision about recording a complaint within fifteen working days of receiving the complaint. If more than fifteen working days have passed, you should contact the police force for an explanation for the delay. If the police force has not given you a decision on recording within fifteen working days and you do not accept their reasons for the delay, you have a right of appeal to the IPCC. Please contact the police force or the IPCC Customer Service Team to obtain the relevant appeal form.
Once a complaint has been recorded, the police force will then assess the case and decide how the complaint should be handled. Many complaints can be satisfactorily dealt with via the Local Resolution process which is intended to be quick and flexible. It provides the opportunity to explain your concerns to the police and receive an adequate response. Please see IPCC booklet ‘Dealing with your complaint by Local Resolution’ for more information. If your complaint is not suitable for Local resolution or you do not agree to Local Resolution, the complaint will be assigned to an Investigator and there will be an investigation carried out locally by the police.
The severity of a complaint will determine how it should be resolved. In certain circumstances the complaint would be referred to the IPCC who may oversee a police investigation by conducting a supervised or managed investigation, or in the most serious cases handle the complaint using our own team of investigators. Please note that the involvement of the IPCC in the investigation of a complaint is only likely to apply to a small number of cases overall. The majority of complaints are investigated by the police force concerned, and the IPCC may only become involved if there is cause to review a decision made by the police.
The IPCC does not have an involvement in a police investigation into a complaint until its conclusion. This means that the IPCC cannot intervene in the progress of an investigation or instruct the police to change the person in charge of investigating your complaint. Any requests, comments or criticisms you have regarding an on-going police investigation should be made either directly to the Investigator or to the police force responsible. Alternatively, you can bring this to the attention of the IPCC at the end of the investigation through the appeal process.
The IPCC does not have an involvement in an on-going police investigation and therefore will not necessarily be aware of the current status of your complaint. If you have not heard from the Investigator for more than 28 days, you should contact the police force directly for an update.
If there are pending court proceedings associated with your complaint, it is possible that the police will choose to suspend an investigation into your complaint until after those court proceedings are complete. This is because of what is sometimes called subjudice rule (which means ‘before the court’), Complaint investigations are sometimes suspended in this way in order not to prejudice a future criminal trial or, in the case of a jury trial, not to influence the jury.
Where you are the person who will be subject to those related to court proceedings you may be able to waive your right to have the investigation into your complaint suspended. You should consider taking legal advice before doing this. In some circumstances the police may still, after consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service, decide to suspend the investigation of your complaint even though you don’t want them to. If the investigation into your complaint is suspended, you should contact the police force concerned to restart your complaint after court proceedings are complete.
The police complaints system allows the police to apply to the IPCC for permission to close a complaint in certain circumstances. If the police apply to close a complaint before any investigation takes place, it is called a dispensation. If they apply to close a complaint during an investigation, it is called a discontinuance. The police should notify you if they apply to the IPCC for either a dispensation or a discontinuance. One example of a situation where the police might apply for a dispensation is if a complaint was made more than 12 months after the incident being complained about and there is no good reason for the delay. An example of a situation where the police might apply for a discontinuance is where the complainant stops co-operating with the investigators' enquiries, preventing a meaningful investigation.
The IPCC considers each application for a dispensation or discontinuance, looking at the reasons for the application. In some circumstances, we will contact the complainant involved to find out what they think about the application. The IPCC will make a decision on applications for dispensations or discontinuances within 21 days of receiving them. We notify both the relevant police force and the complainant of the decision we reach.
This FAQs page can also be downloaded as a pdf.
Please send feedback on these FAQs to enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk
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