2021/24649 - Complaints about Police
REQUEST
I see from the IOPC website (see below) that when someone makes a complaint about the police it is dealt with in one of two ways - either you (i) 'log information about it into a database' or (ii) decide that it be 'recorded'.
- For the year 2019/20, please provide the number of complaints that you (i) logged and (ii) recorded.
If a complainant is unhappy about your decision to log their complaint they can ask you to record it.
- For the year 2019/20, please provide the number of complainants who requested you to record their complaints because they were unhappy that you logged them.
- For the year 2019/20, please provide the number of these requests (response to 2) that you changed from logged to recorded.
- Please provide all category headings available to categorise the nature of the logged information.
From the IOPC website:
'If your complaint can be resolved quickly If your complaint can be resolved fairly quickly and you are satisfied, then your complaint does not need to be looked into further and will not be recorded. For example, if you make a complaint and the force provides you with an explanation that you are satisfied with.
If your complaint is not recorded, the police force will still log information about your complaint into a database. This is so they can look at the complaints they receive to spot themes and trends.
Recording a complaint means that the person handling your complaint must follow certain processes and you will have the right to ask for a review if you are not happy with the outcome.
If your complaint cannot be resolved quickly
If your complaint cannot be resolved fairly quickly, then the police force must record your complaint and look into it further. This may or may not involve an investigation.
You can ask for your complaint to be recorded if you are unhappy that it has not been recorded.
By law, certain serious complaints must be recorded. This includes complaints that could result in criminal charges for an officer, if the allegation was proven. An allegation is a claim that someone has done something wrong. For example, an allegation of assault or theft.'