Chief constables to chair misconduct hearings

16 May 2024

The conduct lead for West Mercia Police Federation has criticised recent changes to the police disciplinary system which give Chief Constables greater powers to sack officers found guilty of police misconduct.

Amendments made to the Police Conduct Regulations came into force on 7 May now mean police chiefs, or their delegate, will chair standard misconduct hearings, rather than the Legally Qualified Chairs (LQC).

Speaking out against the change in regulations, branch conduct lead Lesley Williams says that she feels the amendments will damage the transparency, openness and fairness of the process which was why LQC’s were previously introduced.

“I am openly against the decision to change these regulations,” said Lesley, adding: “The changes came as a result of calls from Sir Mark Rowley [Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis] to have the ability to ‘hire and fire’.

Sir Mark Rowley - Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

“While this has been granted, Chiefs can now also delegate to another senior officer, an individual who has been a senior officer in the last five years or a member of police staff of equivalent grade.

“In my opinion, what really was the point of granting the request if it can be delegated straight out? It was already delegated to the LQC.

“Chief Constables and their delegates are not legally qualified or experienced in the regulations as LQCs. This is no longer an independent process.”

The new measures have been introduced across England and Wales, with the panel now compromising the Chief of the police force concerned and two lay members.

Provision is made for a legally qualified person to be appointed in order to provide advice to the panel of persons conducting or the person chairing the hearing.

“The chair must have regard to the advice provided. Isn’t this the LQC process we had where the legally qualified ‘advisor’ chaired the proceedings?” Lesley argued.

“I don’t think this decision has been made with fairness for officers in mind. It’s a very quick reaction to the awful cases that we saw in the Met.

“Quite rightly those individuals had no place in policing and processes should be reviewed and improved to put as many safeguards in place to ensure it is not repeated. But these changes to the regulations are not the answer.

“Who chairs the proceedings is the last step in a much longer investigation timeframe. What needs to be looked at is the length of those investigations before they get to a hearing and the case-to-answer test.”

The Police and Crime Commissions (PCC) for West Mercia will also have greater responsibility for scrutinising the decisions made by hearing panels.

This means that, following last week’s (Thursday 2 May) elections, PCC John Campion will be tasked with holding those making dismissal decisions to account.

In some cases, the Chief will need to provide justification for certain decisions to the PCC.

Changes to the regulation come shortly after the government set out further changes to the police disciplinary system, which means that any officer charged with an indictable offence will be automatically suspended from duty until an outcome is reached.

This was alongside legislation that will make it easier to dismiss officers who fail to hold vetting, as well as anyone found guilty of gross misconduct.

“What this does reinforce, is that the moment a member is under investigation, they must contact the Federation for support or advice,” ended Lesley.

“So once again, I want to remind members that the Federation is here for them. The moment they are told they are under investigation, I am urging them to contact the Federation immediately.”

If you would like to speak to Lesley then email her at: lwilliams@wmpf.polfed.org