A TOTAL of 1,984 complaints were logged by Avon and Somerset Police in the last financial year, according to a report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IPOC).
The report, ‘Police complaints statistics for England and Wales 2020/21’, is the first of its kind since changes to the police complaints system were introduced in February 2020.
The report was published on November 16 and shows data for the last financial year (April 6, 2020, to April 5, 2021).
It describes the statistics as “experimental” because they were filed under the new laws and says the figures “cannot be meaningfully compared to previous years”.
Complaints can include more than one allegation.
The 1,987 complaints the force was subject to were made up of 3,309 allegations.
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said the force is “committed to providing the public with the highest standards of service”.
They added police “encourage people to report their concerns to us so our Professional Standards Department (PSD) can investigate and, if necessary, take action”.
The IOPC oversees the complaints system, investigates serious and sensitive cases, and reviews some others.
The highest number of allegations logged by Avon and Somerset Police (1,592) were for ‘delivery of duties and service’, which accounted for 48% of allegations across England and Wales.
This category “covers police action after contact with the public and the general level of service the police offer”.
The next most common allegation categories were ‘police powers, policies and procedures’ (618), ‘individual behaviours’ (568), ‘discriminatory behaviour’ (181), and ‘abuse of position/corruption’ (91).
The report also includes a breakdown of complaints relative to the size of England and Wales’s police forces, providing a more “meaningful comparison of complaints logged across forces”.
Avon and Somerset Police logged 329 complaints per 1,000 employees in the last financial year, putting it slightly above the average complaints rate of 290.
North Yorkshire Police had the lowest complaint case rate per 1,000 employees (131), and Clevedon Police had the highest (805).
In total, 67,732 complaints were logged by police forces in England and Wales, and these were made up of 190,151 allegations.
How were complaints processed?
When a police force or body receives a complaint, it must contact the complainant and seek their views about how the complaint should be handled "as soon as possible after the complaint is made".
It took Avon and Somerset Police an average of three days to log complaints and four days to contact complainants from the date the complaints were made.
Police forces in England and Wales took an average of six days to log complaints from the date the complaint was made, and it took an average of seven days for them to contact the complainant.
Cheshire Constabulary took just one day on average to contact complainants, while it took West Midlands Police 24 days – the lowest and highest average times.
Once complaints are received, the new regulations mean they can be handled informally or formally.
A complaint does not need to be handled formally “if it can be resolved quickly and to the satisfaction of the complainant”.
However, complaints must be handled formally under Schedule 3 of the Police Reform Act 2002 if the complainant wants it to be handled formally; the nature of the allegation(s) means it must be formally recorded; the authority responsible for initial handling decides it is appropriate, or a complainant is unhappy with the informal handling of a complaint.
Avon and Somerset Police recorded 1,087 complaints under Schedule 3 to be handled formally - 55% of the 1,984 complaints it logged.
Of the 67,732 complaint cases logged across England and Wales, 36,365 (54%) were recorded formally.
A complaint or allegation is finalised "when the complainant is notified about the outcome of the allegation (a decision) and any planned action".
Avon and Somerset Police finalised a total of 1,709 complaints in the last financial year: 906 formally and 803 informally.
Some complaints and allegations logged in the 2020/21 financial year may have been finalised after April 5, so will not be included in November's IPOC report.
It took the force an average of 10 days to finalise complaints informally, compared to an average of 25 days across England and Wales.
Avon and Somerset took an average of 63 days to finalise complaints formally under Schedule 3 including suspensions, and 62 days to finalise complaints under Schedule 3 without suspensions.
These figures are also lower than average for England and Wales (73 and 72 respectively).
Once a complaint is finalised, the actions taken by police forces include offering an explanation, issuing an apology, holding a debrief of the original incident, a gesture of goodwill, or reviewing policies or procedures.
The action taken can also be ‘organisational learning’, ‘individual learning’, and ‘learning from reflection’.
In cases handled formally, complaints can be referred to a Reflective Practice Review Process (RPRP) or trigger an Unsatisfactory Performance Procedure (UPP).
18 complaint cases dealt with under Schedule 3 in England and Wales contained at least one allegation resulting in misconduct proceedings.
No criminal proceedings were launched as a result of complaints and allegations, although that is listed as an option in the IPOC's report.
Across England and Wales, 55% of complainants were men, and the most common age group to complain were those aged 30-39 (20%).
In 37% of cases, the ethnicity of complainants was not stated and, in a further 2%, it was unknown.
Where the ethnicity of the complainant was known, 47% were white, 5% were Asian, and 4% were Black, according to the report.
Of the 38,982 people serving with the police who were subject to a complaint, 67% were male and, where known, 81% were white.
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said: “We are committed to providing the public with the highest standards of service.
“When the conduct of an officer or member of police staff appears to fall below these high standards, we encourage people to report their concerns to us so our Professional Standards Department (PSD) can investigate and if necessary, take action.
“Should an officer or member of police staff be accused of a serious wrongdoing or criminal behaviour, including sexual assault, then the matter will be referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which may decide to direct an investigation or independently investigate.
“All complaints are taken seriously and when misconduct is identified it is dealt with robustly as we fully recognise the damage it does to the public’s trust and confidence in us.
“In cases where evidence of gross misconduct is found, a hearing may take place chaired by a Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) who is independent of policing. The outcome of which is then always published on our website in the interests of transparency.”
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