All complaints made against the police should be investigated by an INDEPENDENT BODY. As the IPCC now only investigate very serious matters, local police investigate any complaints against themselves and routinely find themselves not guilty! As we have seen in recent exposures regarding racism, just 1% of these complaints were upheld, can we really believe that 99% of those complaints were untrue? This is also reflected in many other complaints made to local police services about their own police officers. Very few appeals, when made, are also upheld. it is common sense not to allow public bodies to investigate themselves. Let us have truly independent complaint investigations, for everyone who feels they have a genuine complaint regarding the police. It is only fair for those people who have suffered unfair treatment at the hands of the Police. Even the IPCC itself has been critical of local police forces investigating themselves stating:'Police forces are still failing to respond to far too many of the public’s complaints despite improvements made to the complaints system in 2004 and additional guidance issued by us to forces back in May last year'. They also criticised the time it takes for complaint to be dealt with, which is on average 6 months! Read more:
Dear Mrs May
As a law abiding person I was disgusted when a genuine complaint I made against the police, who did not assist me when I was a victim of a crime, was thrown out. Total fabrication and untrue statements were made by officers who tried to justify their lack of action. In the interest of fairness we MUST have TRULY independent police investigations when it comes to complaints. Self regulation is unfair and does not bring justice.
