The Work of the Independent Police Complaints Commission : Eleventh Report of Session 2009-10 - Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence

Despite an ever-increasing workload the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) does little to prevent complaints against police behaviour in the first instance by improving forces' complaints procedures and despite a budget of GBP 35 million per annum the organisation lacks clear measures of success.

Key findings include: despite the IPCC possessing staff of around 400 people, the vast majority of complaints against police behaviour are investigated by the force concerned; of the 30,000 plus complaints against police behaviour last year less than 250 were directly managed by the IPCC, which represents less than 10 per cent of 'serious' complaints; in 99 cases out of 100 and despite the existence of an independent statutory body, complaints made against police behaviour will be investigated by the police; and, the Committee also raised concerns at the use of ex-police officers within the IPCC.

These officers can often end up investigating possible ex-colleagues in their former force. The Home Affairs Committee is convinced that the police should be placing a much greater onus on resolving complaints in an open, transparent and satisfactory manner themselves and calls upon the IPCC to produce a detailed plan of how the Commission, working with bodies such as Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), will improve police performance in this area.