IPCC publishes findings from 2011 Public Confidence survey

28 Jun 2011 01:38 PM

A survey for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has shown that people are increasingly willing to complain about the police where they feel they have good reason - over two out of every three (68%) are now prepared to complain, an increase of 9% on 2009.

Alongside the rise in willingness to complain, where the biggest increase was among minority communities, there was also a continued high percentage (85%) of people who believe the IPCC would treat their complaint fairly.

The survey also asked people whether they had been in contact with the police in the previous 12 months and whether they were happy with that contact. This year the number of people who had been in contact with the police fell from one in four (27%) to one in five people (20%) - however their satisfaction with that police contact rose from 71% to 76%.

Awareness of the IPCC (64%) and its independence from the police (65%) remain in the majority but both dropped a few percentage points in this year's survey. The IPCC compared favourably to other similar ombudsmen in terms of public awareness.

In line with the overall trend there was an increase in the willingness of people from minority communities to complain. Despite this positive response, however, people from BME communities have a lower awareness of the IPCC and are less likely to complain than their white counterparts.

IPCC Interim Chair Len Jackson said:

"Overall these results can be seen in a positive light. People are more likely than ever to complain if they are dissatisfied with their contact with the police. This reflects a more open and accessible system and a confidence that the public's concerns will be dealt with positively.

"We cannot, however, be complacent; there is much still to do to further improve that confidence, particularly amongst minority communities and young people. Such groups often find it difficult to engage with the police complaints system we hope that our policy work in areas such as stop and search and deaths in custody, along with a structured programme of reaching out to these groups will raise our profile and with that confidence in the complaints system.”

The survey of more than 3,700 people conducted at the beginning of this year showed:

The percentage of people from a minority community, who were willing to complain rose from 50% to 67%

19% of respondents are very confident and a further 50% confident the IPCC would handle their complaint impartially

48% of people would go to a police station to make a complaint.

Encouragingly, a high proportion of people correctly think the IPCC's role is to help police learn from complaints (87%), and to handle appeals from people unhappy with the way police have dealt with their complaint (85%). Significant numbers though wrongly believe the IPCC is responsible for deciding whether officers should be prosecuted for criminal actions - in fact a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service - and for investigating all complaints against the police, no matter how minor – in fact the IPCC only investigates the most serious complaints.

Of those surveyed only 36% felt that they would not be taken seriously if they were to make a complaint and those that felt nothing would be done as a result of a complaint fell 6% to 41%. All other disincentives to complaining remained stable.

However, the survey highlights the discrepancy between white respondents and minority communities. Even though the percentage of minority respondents who felt they would not be taken seriously fell by 3% to 46%, this is 8% higher than their white counterparts. Also 40% felt they would be subject to police harassment were they to complain, compared to 17%.

For further information please contact Neil Coyte IPCC Press Office 020 71663978.