Commentary
| Published date | 01 April 1992 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X9206500201 |
| Date | 01 April 1992 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
TbePOLICE
JOURNM
COMPLAINTS AGAINST
THE
POLICE
Afteradisastrous yearforthepolicein whichcriticisms havebeenheaped
uponthem, often
unfairly,
waysmust be foundto re-establish fullpublic
confidence in the Service. Partof the problemlies in the wayin which
allegedmisconduct on the partof individual officersis broughtto public
attention bythe
media.
It
wouldhelp if theofficers or theforce of which
they are
members
were
named,
insteadof employing the generic term
'police' whichimmediately attributes thesubstance of the alleged
wrong
doing to theService as a
whole.
Afterall, if doctor or a lawyeroffends,
his or her misdeeds are not blamed on the Health Serviceor the Law
Society, respectively.
Another meansof closing the gap between the police and the public
would be to change the system of dealing with complaints against the
police.
It
mustbe said thatalltheevidencepoints
towards
lackof faith in
thepresentsystemwith the exception, perhaps, of complaints of a minor
nature whichare dealt with by the informal resolution procedure. It is
suggested, therefore, thatthelattershouldcontinue tobetheresponsibility
ofchiefconstables and informally resolved,
whereas
allegations ofmore
seriousmisconduct couldbereportedto thepresentComplaints Authority
andinvestigated by a non-police
agency,
perhapscomposed of members
of the legalprofession. This shouldhave theeffect of placating allthose
whoconsiderthe present
system
to be unfairand relievethe policeof an
enormousburden.
It
couldwellprovetobea pyrrhicvictoryforthecritics,
forthecost wouldbe heavyfinancially andinvestigative standards might
not reach those at present achieved, but the symbolic rewards of the
resulting fruitsshouldmaketheexercise worthwhile in termsof publicco-
operation andsupport.
The Police Federation and the Superintendents' Association already
approve suchachange, whilsttheAssociation of ChiefPoliceOfficers, for
verygood
reasons,
opposes it. Doubtless, unanimity couldbeachievedin
the best interests of theService.
Alleged
policemisconduct has alreadyproduced a
growth
industry of
civil actions as complainants ignore the
formal
complaints systemand
seek often lucrative redressthrough the courts. This is evidencedby a
book of some 450 pages entitled Civil Actions Against The Police,
published bySweet&
Maxwell
in
1987,
whichprovidescomprehensive
treatment of the rights and remedies of the individual against police
misconduct, which givessome idea of the extent of the problem. A
completely independent systemof investigating complaints against the
police could serve to reduce the number of civil actions, although with
lawyers pursuing claims to be decidedon a lower standard of evidence
than appliesin a criminal court, this seems unlikely. Nevertheless, the
April1992 The
Police
Journal
95
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