Data Reveals Complaints Against Police Officers

Thu, 02 September 2010 Courtesy of: Guardian Unlimited

More than 2,000 police officers were the subject of three or more complaints from members of the public in the last year, figures revealed today.

Data from 43 of 52 UK forces showed that most allegations were of rudeness, assault or failure of duty.

The forces with the most complaints per officer were Northern Ireland, West Mercia and Lincolnshire, according to information gathered by the BBC through Freedom of Information requests.

“more than half of the cases led to no further action being taken against officers”

One officer in the West Midlands had to wear a headcam while on duty because of allegations made against him, while another had his Taser training deferred.

In Dyfed-Powys, Wales, 40 allegations were made against one inspector and 38 against a constable.

The Police Federation, which represents more than 140,000 officers, told the BBC many of the allegations were unsubstantiated.

In all, allegations were made against 2,073 officers. The force with the most officers with at least three complaints against them, regardless of size of organisation, was the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with 378.

The Metropolitan police had 273, followed by Greater Manchester (160), Kent (130) and West Mercia (117).

A minority of forces revealed the outcomes of cases, but more than half of the cases led to no further action being taken against officers.

In Greater Manchester, there were 866 allegations for the year, of which 562 led no further action. Action was taken in one case, while 303 were still ongoing.

In the Met, one officer was the subject of 10 allegations of "lack of fairness and impartiality" and another had 10 of "other neglect or failure of duty" brought against him, but these were logged as a single complaint.

The force told the BBC figures on the outcomes of complaints were not available.

In July, the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Al Hutchinson, reported there had been 3,528 complaints against officers over the year – a rise of 14%. These included a total of 6,419 allegations.