Complaints about police have soared (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Complaints about police have soared
12:00pm Friday 25th September 2009 in News
COMPLAINTS about Wiltshire Police have jumped by a fifth, new figures revealed last night.
The number of people making complaints against police in the county rose to 284 in 2008/09 – up from 234 the year before, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
However, allegations made against police in Swindon fell from 175 to 148 over the same period.
Fraser Howorth, acting head of Wiltshire Police professional standards department, said: “We have seen an increase of 50 complaints in Wiltshire, which is 21 per cent, compared to a national increase of eight per cent.
“It is not good news and every complaint is a complaint too many.
“But there is good news for Swindon, which is showing a decrease in the number of allegations.
“I believe people have more faith in complaint systems. If people are unhappy, they feel empowered to flag it up.”
Out of the 483 complaints made against Wiltshire Police, just over half (53 per cent) were locally resolved, which is the third highest nationally.
Serious or malicious complaints are not resolved by the force, including those when a person refuses to have it handled locally.
Twenty seven per cent of cases were formally investigated, while 20 per cent were withdrawn.
Out of those investigations, 10 per cent of complaints were upheld and may have resulted in officers being disciplined or sacked.
People who complained made 1.7 allegations each on average.
Most allegations – 126 – were classed as neglect or failure in duty where officers may not have turned up for an appointment.
Another 72 allegations involved police allegedly being impolite to members of the public.
Chief Insp Howorth said: “It is not that officers are swearing – it is more likely that they made a sarcastic remark or raised their voice in an unprofessional manner.”
He added the force was getting to the source of complaints by introducing more follow-up calls to keep victims in the loop about how investigations are proceeding.
He also said the force was running training courses and promoting customer awareness.
The IPCC said members of the public made 31,259 complaints against forces in England and Wales in 2008/09 – equating to 600 every week.
Comments(10)
Marcus Cicero
says...
5:55pm Fri 25 Sep 09
Nothing more than I would expect.
What it doesn’t show, and cant, is how many simply didn’t bother as they didn’t have any faith in the PCC which is not as independent as they would have you believe.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said there were 31259 complaints in England and Wales in 2008/09 - up 2296 on the past year.
What they haven’t told you is that from next year any complaints will have to be done on line..Easy to tell what will happen to your complaint of brutality or misconduct when that happens. Nothing happens now if you complain as it’s their mates looking to see how they can get them off.
Just so you know how much this useless body is, here are some facts. Ipso facto.
11 Sep 2009 ... The body that polices the police signs 10-year, £45m IT contract for technology refresh and to support online customer services.
Now ask yourselves this, I wonder how many coppers on the street this money would have got, including the final salary pension, don’t forget that three coppers have just retired with over three million pounds between them. Yes you did read that right, you can check it out online. How does that stack up against your pension?
PeeveD
says...
7:02pm Fri 25 Sep 09
The others just refuse to use our service.
I can see that would be a little difficult given the "service" our police force is supposed to provide!
They are a useless waste of space who's new agenda is to act as a money making device for the government.
Ian13
says...
9:18pm Fri 25 Sep 09
Marcus Cicero
says...
10:30am Sat 26 Sep 09
what is this guy all about?? what excatly is the job of police these days???
speeding tickets, protecting criminals, hounding someone who weeds out a dead flower from a flowerbed, turning a blind eye to theft and fraud (goverment).... the list goes on
Mother-of-two threatened with prosecution for picking dead flower
A mother-of-two, Angie Summers, was threatened with prosecution for theft and criminal damage after pulling up a dead flower from a council border in Devizes, Wiltshire.
Wiltshire police your a disgrace
Bobfm
says...
12:06pm Sat 26 Sep 09
Marcus Cicero
says...
1:29pm Sat 26 Sep 09
Out of those investigations, 10 per cent of complaints were upheld and may have resulted in officers being disciplined or sacked.
I wonder if anyone can find out how many wetre sacked
People who complained made 1.7 allegations each on average.
You cant ask a policeman questions like that, he,s likely to say " I know nothing"
Captain Sensible
says...
7:51pm Sat 26 Sep 09
Mr Blackwell
says...
9:10am Mon 28 Sep 09
HJC
says...
4:42pm Tue 29 Sep 09
Tonyblairisthedevil says...
1:03pm Fri 25 Sep 09
I heard a guy on Radio 2 yesterday complain as a copper who pulled him over for speading when told by the guy "i have a clean license" said "not any more you dont"
And the guy complained to the IPCC.. some people are far too sensitive and need to get a life..