IOPC pledges to improve

11 June 2020

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) still needs to operate more quickly, be proportionate and learn best practice from other organisations, according to its director general.

Michael Lockwood, speaking in an online meeting with Federation conduct leads, also said the watchdog would now notify officers if they would be served with a notice within three months after Federation conduct leads raised concerns that ‘radio silence’ from IOPC branches was leaving officers in limbo as they did not know what was happening with investigations.

“We know that, for police officers and staff involved in our investigations, this can be a time of considerable concern,” he explained, “To reduce this impact, we will introduce a new commitment that, when an investigation is not completed within three months, we will aim to confirm the status of all those involved – whether they are to be considered witnesses or to serve the appropriate misconduct notices.”

The comments have been welcomed by Lesley Williams, West Mercia Police Federation’s conduct lead.

Lesley said: “I am pleased the director general recognises the organisation he leads still needs to improve; this is encouraging but I feel three months is still a long time to wait to be told what your status is – a witness or a subject.  We don’t, and wouldn’t, use these timeframes when dealing with the public. As a Federation, we have seen far too many of our members suffer due to long-drawn-out investigations that have had a detrimental impact on their mental wellbeing and that of their family and loved ones too.

“While we all understand the need for officers’ actions to be subjected to due scrutiny, it cannot be right for investigations to go on for months and months, and sometimes years and years, unchecked and it is only fair and reasonable for officers to be kept up to date on the progress of cases they are involved in.

“But Mr Lockwood’s commitment to making sure officers are notified if they will be served with a notice within three months will be a welcome development in the IOPC’s ongoing improvements programme.”

The director general also told the conduct leads the IOPC had streamlined its case management data entry and hired specialist report writers.

“This is a great opportunity here to future-proof investigations, he said. “If we can do them in two or three months, let’s do them in two or three months - but not at the expense of quality.”

He pointed out the IOPC had closed 93 per cent of investigations within 12 months to the end of October 2019.

But he added: “We are not at the winning line yet. We need to make improvements which are sustainable by operating quicker, being proportionate and learning best practice from other organisations. I am in the process of visiting all forces and I am grateful for the advice already given to me by front-line officers I have spent the time speaking to.”

The IOPC inherited 538 legacy cases from its predecessor, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which were two years or older but has reduced these to 17 and, the director general said they ‘should be cleared by August’.

It is discussing participating in Post-Incident Procedures training with the College of Policing and has introduced a Quality Committee as well as investigator training to improve the standards of its investigations.

Mr Lockwood identified several thematic areas where he would like to focus on learning including mental health issues, domestic abuse, abuse of authority for sexual gain, RTIs and near misses in custody in a bid to improve police practice to reduce the number of incidents in these areas.

Phill Matthews, the Federation’s national conduct and performance lead, said: “We are encouraged that Mr Lockwood recognises his organisation still has a long journey ahead of it and has plans to continue to change and improve it. There is a willingness to work with us rather than against us to improve the complaints system that will benefit everyone.

“We will continue to hold the IOPC to account where an investigation could have been handled better and push for outcomes for members that are just and proportionate.”

• The IOPC has come in for criticism from the Police Federation over cases that have dragged on for five or more years, as highlighted by the Federation’s Time Limits campaign which is calling for investigations to conclude within 12 months as standard, from the point of an allegation being made.