How will guardianship work
The IPCC has started to make guardianship work in the following ways:
Setting, improving, reviewing, monitoring and inspecting standards for the operation of the police complaint system
The Commission has set statutory guidance, to the police service, for the way that the complaints system operates. The draft guidance went out for consultation in December 2004 and was approved by the Home Secretary for publication in August 2005. It sets out the IPCC’s expectations of forces — how the police can make the complaints system work better. A major theme of the guidance is to create a more-timely and proportionate complaints system. One that gives redress to complainants, where things have gone wrong and fairness for officers and police staff subject to complaint.
Monitoring the success of the new system
The Commission is continuing to monitor the operation of the system. This monitoring is on a continuous basis. The IPCC is:
- Collecting and analysing complaints data, which is being published every year;
- Commissioners make frequent visits to police forces;
- Developing relationships with police authorities and an understanding with the Association of Police Authorities as to what makes for good practice;
- Making regular contact and discussions with other stakeholders a key role for Commissioners;
- Analysing information and data arising from the appeals process and the oversight of cases.
The IPCC is conscious of the need not to add to the regulatory or bureaucratic burdens on the police service unnecessarily. In all of these elements we will aim to make existing processes better co-ordinated, more proportionate and more sharply outcome focused.
Commissioners will work with their forces to review progress, identify and spread best practice, make appropriate recommendations for any necessary changes and monitor the impact of their implementation. This process will be carried out in collaboration with HMIC and police authorities.
Statutory inspections
The IPCC has a statutory inspection role. The Commission will develop this in conjunction with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and will consult the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and other stakeholders. The role will be based on the themes set out in the statutory guidance: building confidence of the public and of police officers / staff; proportionality and timeliness; learning from investigations; feeding back complainants’ experience into operational policing; and opportunities to put good service at the heart of the police complaints system.
Promoting confidence in the complaints system as a whole
Building confidence in the system will take not only considerable time and effort; it will to a large extent be a result of visibly fair and timely outcomes. Where the IPCC thinks it is desirable, in the interests of public confidence, it has started to publish detailed reports about outcomes of individual cases. It has also launched a research programme, and is making recommendations arising from the outcome of cases.
Commissioners are the public face of the IPCC in their region. They are responsible for promoting the complaints system to stakeholders and the media in their regions. Commissioners maintain regular personal contact with key stakeholders, such as complainant representative bodies, police stakeholders, local politicians and relevant statutory bodies.
The IPCC may request thematic referrals in order to raise the confidence of specific groups. It could also enable the IPCC to monitor more closely the nature of complaints arising in a specific area of policing or with a particular force.
Forces have already used the opportunity to make voluntary referrals of individual cases, where external and independent oversight may help underpin public confidence in the service or the complaints system, even though the incident falls outside the mandatory referral criteria. For instance the IPCC independently investigated a stop and search incident in Milton Keynes at the request of both the police service and local organisations. It also oversaw Thames Valley Police’s review of how they responded to a fatal firearms incident, the so-called barbecue murders.
Following national media publicity, surrounding non-payment by police vehicles caught speeding on roadside cameras, the IPCC asked Derbyshire Constabulary to undertake a full review of all the activations in the period.
The review led to 10 recommendations being made. These included reminding all staff about procedures relating to camera activation and renewed guidance of their personal responsibilities relating to driving offences. Amendments to police vehicles to ensure blue lights are clearly identifiable on film, and prior approval from a supervisor for driving at speed for training purposes, were also suggested.
It has also started its first inquiry that not only investigates a police force but also the actions of ambulance service personnel. The IPCC can, when conducting an inquiry under its criminal investigatory powers, scrutinise non-police personnel where this is essential to completing a satisfactory inquiry.
The IPCC has produced brochures on the complaints system not only for complainants but also for police staff and officers. Commissioners are also promoting confidence in the increased use of local resolution to resolve complaints in a more informal way.
Ensuring the accessibility of the complaints system
Knowing how to complain and what will happen about a complaint are essential to public confidence. At a national and regional level, Commissioners will ensure the public can access the complaints system, by identifying organisations that can be Complaint Access Points. For instance Cumbria Constabulary arranged that Cumbria County Council libraries, even the mobile ones, would act as complaints access points for people in the Lake District and surrounding area.
The Commission has noted that police complaints have increased since the IPCC came into operation. While the reasons are yet to be confirmed by research the Commission regards a willingness to complain as an indicator of public confidence, as well as of public satisfaction levels. The recent IPCC confidence survey found, for example, that 65% of people said they would be more willing to make complaints about the police, if organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau could help and support them. The Commission will seek to encourage people to have the confidence to complain, as well as to encourage them to work with the police service to resolve their complaints.
Feedback
Promoting higher standards in policing by drawing out and feeding back the experiences, arising from the IPCC’s work, is the aspect of the guardianship function that has provoked most discussion with the police service. The IPCC would much rather policing learnt from experience than always focusing on individual blame.
This is a new, formal role for a police complaints body (Section 1O(1)(e) of the Police Reform Act gives the IPCC this power). The provision extends the function of the IPCC into making recommendations and giving advice on police practice in relation to any other matters which the Commission comes across. This can be as a result of carrying out its other functions, including those arising from individual complaints.
The IPCC will therefore promote the lessons identified from its experience of investigations and appeals. The aim is to contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and excellence in policing. This is better than focusing only on individual blame and misconduct, arising from adverse incidents that are viewed in isolation.
A formal committee for undertaking this work has been established. Its members have agreed they will concentrate on making:
- recommendations for changes to national practice and policy;
- precautionary reporting (concerning force-specific recommendations; where there could nonetheless be learning opportunities for other forces managing similar situations;
- good practice reporting where procedures and practice have worked well; and
- suggestions for future IPCC research and analysis.
The positions it takes on police policy matters will be evidence based. In certain areas of policing, single cases can have a powerful illustrative effect and wherever appropriate the IPCC seeks to disseminate the important lessons through all appropriate channels. Already reports have been issued on key cases investigated. Following the March 2006 report into the death of Christopher Alder, the Commission has entered into joint work with the Healthcare Commission to improve procedures between the police service and the emergency healthcare providers.
The recommendations made will of course be just that — recommendations. It will be up to those to whom the recommendations are made to accept or reject them. The Commission will therefore ensure effective consultation with key stakeholders in determining research and policy conclusions to maximise their usefulness, acceptance and implementation.
The IPCC has, for example, identified mental health as a major dimension in a significant number of the more-serious cases it has handled. Following discussion with representatives from the police service, health and social care services, at an IPCC-run conference, the Commission is progressing its strategy on mental health in partnership with the National Institute for Mental Health in England to develop a framework for dialogue and action at regional level. It is determined to look at the whole picture on mental health and place the police role in the context of the responsibilities of other agencies in this field.
The Commission also helped to deliver the ACPO/Centrex guidance on the safer handling and detention of persons in police custody. It is also a founder partner of the cross-departmental Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody.
Conclusion
As the Commission develops its guardianship role, the culture of police complaints should move away from being totally dominated by its criminal and disciplinary functions to one of continuous improvement. Such a cultural change would be in line with long-established practice in the commercial sector.
It stresses working to increase police and public confidence in the complaints system. In turn, this should raise levels of public confidence in policing generally - widely seen as one of the keys to gaining co-operation in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
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