Outcome of your complaint

What happens once your complaint has been investigated?

If your complaint is subject to an investigation by the police or the IPCC, you will be contacted when it is complete with information about what it has decided to do.

If something goes wrong, the police complaints system is about trying to put it right. Complaints can help the police to improve the way they do things so that they provide a better service in the future.

Possible outcomes could include:

• The police force may decide to improve or change its procedures.
  
  
• The police force may give advice to the officer or person you have complained about so that their performance improves.
  
  
• The police force may instigate disciplinary proceedings against the officer or person you have complained about. In a managed or independent investigation, the IPCC can ask the police, as employer, to consider taking disciplinary action – and can, if necessary, direct it to do so.
  
  
• The police force (or the IPCC in managed or independent cases) may refer your case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS is responsible for deciding if criminal charges should be brought.
  
  
• In cases where it is found that a police officer has a case to answer for misconduct, the police force or police authority may refer them to misconduct proceedings.
  
  
• In some cases, there may not be enough information to take action over your complaint. If this happens, it may just mean there is not enough evidence available.
  
  
• In some cases the police force may agree with you that something went wrong, but decide that no other action is appropriate. In some cases there may not be enough information to take any further action over your complaint.

If your complaint has been dealt with by Local Resolution you can expect an explanation of what happened that caused you to complain. You might receive information to clear up a misunderstanding or perhaps an apology on behalf of the police force.