WIREDGOV

Police forces should do more to ensure allegations of discrimination made by the public are handled in line with official Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) guidance.

A review of the way three large police forces deal with allegations of discrimination has found some improvements since the IPCC issued its latest guidelines in September 2015. However, it has also identified some concerns.

The review looked at discrimination cases in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and West Midlands police forces completed during 2016. It sampled 88 cases, 11 of which were complaints made by police officers or staff and 77 of which were complaints from the public.

The review found:

• forces were communicating better with complainants
• there had been noticeable improvements in handling internally generated complaints, from within the police forces.  The majority of allegations (7 out of 11) were upheld.
• there were still concerns about the way complaints from the public were dealt with.   The quality of investigations and reports was unsatisfactory in two-thirds of cases examined, and no complaints  were upheld.
• failings included not properly assessing the seriousness of the allegation, not asking probing questions, and not seeking comparator evidence where relevant.

The IPCC’s appeals work suggests that these concerns are general across all police forces.  Complainants who are dissatisfied with the way forces investigate their complaints can in some cases appeal to the IPCC.  In 2016, the IPCC was more likely to uphold appeals about discrimination investigations by local forces in England and Wales than appeals about other matters:  47% of discrimination investigations were found to be flawed, compared to 40% of appeals in general.

As well as working closely with the three forces reviewed, the IPCC has made recommendations to all forces, and invited every force in England and Wales to submit an action plan.  So far, 32 of the 43 forces have submitted their plans.

Dame Anne Owers, Chair of the IPCC, said:

“It is heartening to see that there have been some improvements in the handling of discrimination allegations.  However, this review shows that there is still a way to go before forces can be confident that they are dealing effectively with discrimination complaints that come from the public.

“We have made a number of recommendations based on our findings, which I hope will assist all forces in an area that is particularly important for public and community confidence.”

Read the full report, including case examples of the correct and incorrect application of the guidelines and the recommendations made to police forces here