Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC - formerly IPCC)
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Call for more powers for Independent Police Complaints Commission

The Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has called for additional powers and resources to further strengthen the agency’s work, as its annual report for 2011/12 was laid in Parliament.

The report details a year in which a number of highly significant IPCC investigations of considerable public interest were launched.

Strengthening the IPCC would allow it to increase the number of independent investigations, which inspire the greatest public confidence in the police complaints system.

IPCC Chair Dame Anne Owers said:  “We have made it clear that in some crucial aspects we lack both the powers and resources to be as effective as we need to be to fulfil our principal role of increasing public confidence in policing.

“In this changing and challenging landscape it is crucial to recognise the importance of independent oversight. It is an essential part of public accountability over a service which can exercise coercive and potentially lethal powers.”

Limitations highlighted in the report include the IPCC not being able to require information from third parties, not being able to investigate private contractors working in policing and not being able to compel police officers and staff to attend interviews in cases of death or serious injury.

Resource limitations mean the IPCC is not easily able to extend the number of independent investigations and its oversight of the complaints system in general.

Notes to editors

A copy of the report is available to view on the IPCC website.

For further information contact Danny Brierley in the IPCC press office on 0161 246 8633


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