The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio LONDON: The Statioery Office 14.35 Ordered by the House of Commos to be prited o 12 November 2008 REPORT BY THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL HC 1035 Sessio 2007-2008 14 November 2008
SuMMARy Ratioale for ad scope of the NAO examiatio 1 The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio (IPCC), which operates i Eglad ad Wales oly, became operatioal i April 2004 uder the Police Reform Act (2002), succeedig the former Police Complaits Authority. The IPCC has resposibility for the performace of the whole police complaits system. Its remit is to ivestigate complaits ad coduct matters ivolvig police officers; ad to recommed appropriate actio by the police force cocered ad, where appropriate, to forward iformatio to the Crow Prosecutio Service for a decisio o prosecutio. Its remit does ot iclude determiig discipliary actio by idividual forces or brigig prosecutios itself. The IPCC becomes ivolved followig a direct complait from a member of the public or as a result of a referral by the police. Some icidets ivolvig death or serious ijury are required by statute to be referred to the IPCC. 2 Sice 2004, the remit of the IPCC has bee expaded to iclude the ivestigatio of serious allegatios agaist officers of HM Reveue & Customs, the Serious Orgaised Crime Agecy ad the UK Border Agecy. This report focuses o the IPCC s ivestigatio of complaits agaist the police. 4 THE INDEPENDENT POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMISSION
3 The IPCC is oversee by a Board of 12 Commissioers appoited by the Home Secretary ad had just uder 400 staff as at 31 March 2008. The IPCC s et resource expediture i 2007-08 was 32.2 millio of which 30.1 millio was fiaced by Grat-i-Aid from the Home Office. 4 Nearly 29,000 complaits were made agaist the police i 2007-08. The majority of these complaits were dealt with locally by the relevat police force ad did ot ivolve the IPCC. I 2007-08, the IPCC: opeed 100 idepedet ivestigatios, which were the most serious cases udertake solely by IPCC ivestigators; opeed 152 maaged ivestigatios usig local police force staff uder IPCC cotrol; opeed 245 supervised ivestigatios ru by local police forces; ad received 4,141 appeals. Appeals ca be agaist a complait ot beig recorded by the police; agaist a complait beig dealt with by local resolutio by the police force cocered; or agaist the outcome of a ivestigatio of a complait by the police. Complaiats do ot have the right of appeal to the IPCC i respect of a idepedet ivestigatio udertake by the IPCC or agaist ivestigatios maaged by the IPCC. I such cases a complaiat would eed to seek a Judicial Review if they were uhappy about the way their case had bee hadled by the IPCC. 5 Give that the IPCC has had four years i which to establish its systems ad procedures, it is a good time to assess whether the IPCC has met its objectives. This report therefore examies whether the IPCC: is maagig its workload of complaits, referrals ad appeals efficietly (Part 1); has i place appropriate mechaisms for esurig the quality of its work (Part 2); is followig up ivestigatios appropriately; ad is commuicatig effectively with complaiats, police officers uder ivestigatio ad stakeholders (Part 3). It was ot withi the ambit of this examiatio to assess the outcome of specific IPCC ivestigatios. The report does ot therefore commet o whether or ot the decisios made by the IPCC i idividual cases are appropriate. 6 The methodology for this study icludes iterviews with key officials withi the IPCC, with key stakeholders icludig police ad complaiat represetative groups, ad with Professioal Stadards Departmets from five police forces. We reviewed a sample of idepedet ad maaged ivestigatios ad appeals at each of the IPCC s regios. Appedix 1 provides more detail about our study methodology. Mai fidigs O the IPCC s workload ad performace agaist targets 7 The IPCC s workload has icreased sigificatly sice 2004-05. The IPCC opeed 100 idepedet ivestigatios i 2007-08 compared to 31 i 2004-05 ad hadled over 4,100 appeals i 2007-08 compared to just over 1,000 i 2004-05. The umber of idepedet ivestigatios has icreased i part because of the impact of Huma Rights case law, which has expaded the rage of ivestigatios where the IPCC is legally obliged to coduct a idepedet ivestigatio. 8 The balace of the IPCC s ivestigatio activities has also sice its iceptio shifted from maaged ivestigatios to idepedet ivestigatios. As a result of the icrease i the umber of idepedet ivestigatios the IPCC cosiders that it is ow workig above full capacity, sice i 2007-08 the IPCC bega 100 idepedet ivestigatios as compared to a plaed figure of 50 idepedet ivestigatios. To help address its icreasig workload the IPCC approved a Busiess Chage Programme i 2008, buildig o a project iitiated i 2007. The Busiess Chage Programme is desiged to icrease the IPCC s productivity ad flexibility ad realise efficiecy savigs. The Programme icludes a review of IPCC s estates, icludig the eed for a cetral Lodo base, ad local complaits hadlig systems. 9 The IPCC also udertook a stock-take of the wider police complaits system i 2007-08, to assess how the complaits system operates ad to idetify improvemets to the system. The IPCC published its iterim fidigs ad proposals i Jue 2008 ad, subject to the outcome of a public cosultatio, aims to implemet these chages from late 2008 owards. The proposals iclude broadeig the defiitio of a complait agaist the police to iclude issues of public cocer ad poor service delivery by police forces as well as idividual police coduct. The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio 5
10 The IPCC completed 82 idepedet ivestigatios i 2007-08, which exactly met its target. I 2007-08, for the first time, the IPCC also met its target of completig 50 per cet of ivestigatios withi 157 workig days. However, because of the rise i workload, the umber of idepedet ivestigatios ope at the year ed rose from 57 at the ed of 2006-07 to 75 at the ed of 2007-08. Delays i processig cases are largely due to factors outside the IPCC s direct cotrol. They iclude cases becomig sub judice because of a court case beig uderway, delays i receivig iformatio from pathologists, coroers ad the Crow Prosecutio Service, ad delays i beig able to obtai witess statemets from police officers uder ivestigatio. A miority of cases (16 per cet of our sample of idepedet ivestigatios) ecoutered sigificat delays because of problems withi the IPCC, primarily as a result of staff chages o ivestigatios. 11 The IPCC udertakes ivestigatios, kow as maaged ivestigatios, which are dealt with by local police forces o its behalf but which are uder the IPCC s overall cotrol. I 2007-08, oly 39 per cet of cases were completed withi 157 workig days compared to the IPCC s target of 50 per cet. 12 The IPCC also supervises cases which are udertake etirely by local police forces (supervised ivestigatios). There is a strog cosesus betwee the IPCC ad the police forces we spoke to that supervised ivestigatios are ot a effective way of hadlig complaits. These cases add to the workload of both the IPCC ad the ivestigatig police force without improvig the quality of the ivestigatio from that of a local-level ivestigatio. Cosequetly, the IPCC has reduced the umber of supervised ivestigatios from 562 opeed i 2005-06 to 245 opeed i 2007-08. 13 The IPCC has a target to process 80 per cet of the ivestigatio appeals it receives withi 25 workig days. Oly the North regio of the IPCC s four regios achieved this target i 2007-08, although the Cetral regio came close to doig so. The Lodo & South-East regio dealt with oly 27 per cet of appeals withi the target. Durig the year, as part of its strategy to maage capacity issues, the IPCC trasferred some of the appeals received by the Lodo & South East regio to the Cetral ad North regios which had some resource capacity to absorb additioal appeals ad ivestigatios, thereby improvig overall performace to 51 per cet by the year ed, but still below the 80 per cet target. 14 Performace agaist key targets varies sigificatly betwee the IPCC s four regios, as does demad for IPCC services. The resource model used for the Lodo & South-East regio at set-up has proved iadequate, resultig i poorer performace for the average duratio of appeals ad idepedet ivestigatios. The regio has also received more appeals ad started more idepedet ad maaged ivestigatios tha ay other regio. This sustaied demad combied with staff recruitmet ad retetio challeges has led to a backlog of outstadig work i the Lodo & South-East regio, which, as oted above, IPCC maagemet has addressed by re-directig a proportio of appeals cases to other regios. This course of actio is more difficult to take for ivestigatios, which rely o ivestigators maitaiig geographical proximity to the icidet ad the police force ivolved but, where possible, the IPCC has moved some ivestigators temporarily to help out or trasferred some ivestigatios to other regios. O the IPCC s quality cotrol procedures ad idepedece 15 Esurig the quality of ivestigatios is crucially importat. We foud that, while the IPCC has produced a coheret writte maual ad case trackig maagemet system for its casework staff who maage the admiistrative elemets of ivestigatios ad hadle appeals, there is a less developed maual for ivestigator staff who are resposible for coductig idepedet ivestigatios. This positio reflects the situatio i 2004 whe there was a greater eed for caseworker guidace tha guidace for ivestigators, who brought with them relevat skills ad experiece from previous roles. Developig a sigle operatios maual settig out best practice ad roles ad resposibilities for the casework, ivestigatio ad Commissioer fuctios is a IPCC objective for 2008-09. Ivestigators udergo accredited traiig made up of a six week full-time course, whereas such traiig for casework staff started oly i April 2008 ad the IPCC does ot expect that all casework staff will have completed the traiig util March 2010. Ivestigator traiig is beig re-lauched i 2008-09 to esure that it is tailored to the eeds ad previous experiece of ew ivestigators. 16 Sice it was set up, the IPCC s ivestigatios have bee oversee by Commissioers who have idividual accoutability for ivestigatios. We examied a sample of cases at the IPCC s four regioal offices ad foud that, cotrary to procedures, there was o auditable record of Commissioer sig-off for 25 per cet of applicable ivestigatio reports. 6 The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio
17 Our examiatio also foud that may cases were ot subject to the formal o-goig quality cotrol review that the IPCC itself has laid dow. The IPCC s ow statistics show that a required self-assessmet of the progress of a ivestigatio took place i oly 55 of the 100 idepedet ivestigatios started i 2007 08. This low retur rate may be partly explaied by the extreme legth of the self-assessmet form. Oly 19 of the 100 cases were the subject to the required review by the IPCC s seior ivestigator assiged to review cases. The seior ivestigator has ow bee reassiged to ivestigatios because of the workload demads upo the IPCC, with the review fuctio re-allocated to several ivestigative staff o a part-time basis. From mid-2008 owards, Regioal Directors have bee resposible for recommedig whether a iteral review should take place ad, if ot, explaiig to the IPCC s Quality Assurace Pael why a iteral review is iappropriate. 18 The IPCC does ot have ay formal procedure for review of cases oce they have bee completed, although it is ow pilotig such reviews i its Cetral regio. 19 The IPCC does ot routiely submit ay of its ivestigative work to ay form of exteral scrutiy. The IPCC recogises the potetial beefits of exteral scrutiy but believes that it is difficult to fid appropriate, impartial expertise to udertake such work. The IPCC also cosiders that its Commissioers, who are appoited by the Home Secretary, have a key role i overseeig ad scrutiisig the IPCC s work. 20 The level of successful legal challeges to IPCC decisios is low. The IPCC has ot yet lost a case i relatio to the substative cotet of ivestigatio reports. The ie cases it has lost or coceded to date have bee because the IPCC accepted that casework maagers had made errors i hadlig appeals, dispesatios or discotiuaces, or the IPCC had made ujustifiable decisios o the disclosure of evidece gathered i the course of a idepedet ivestigatio. 21 We assessed the IPCC s level of idepedece usig criteria developed by the Iteratioal Orgaisatio of Supreme Audit Istitutios. While the IPCC is ot a audit body, the criteria ca be usefully adapted to assess the IPCC s perceived idepedece from govermet ad the police. Our assessmet showed that the IPCC scores well o most of the criteria of idepedece. O the outcomes of the IPCC s work ad whether it is commuicatig effectively with complaiats, police officers ad stakeholders 22 The IPCC was set up to brig idepedet oversight to the police complaits system ad to improve system access ad trasparecy. Sice it was established there has bee a big icrease i the umber of recorded complaits, suggestig that the IPCC has made progress i icreasig access to the police complaits system ad improvig the trasparecy of the system. 23 Over 60 per cet of the idepedet ivestigatios that we examied i our sample led to the IPCC recommedig that further actio should be take. Recommedatios icluded geeral lessos for the police force ivolved ad actio affectig idividual police officers, ragig from iformal words of advice to crimial charges. 24 The IPCC is resposible for esurig that its recommedatios are accepted or rejected by police forces, but recogises that o sigle orgaisatio has resposibility for moitorig that recommedatios are implemeted by police forces. The IPCC accepts that this is a weakess ad is willig to work with the Associatio of Police Authorities ad HM Ispectorate of Costabulary to idetify suitable moitorig arragemets. We foud that differet regios were adoptig widely varyig approaches to trackig the acceptace of recommedatios. I the North ad Cetral regios, all recommedatios ad acceptace or rejectio were cetrally recorded whereas i the Lodo & South-East ad Wales & South-West regios, there was o such cetral moitorig. 25 The IPCC also has a remit to idetify ad dissemiate wider lessos arisig from its work. I 2007 the IPCC started to issue Learig the Lessos bulletis that provide summaries of process failigs ad best practice. These bulletis have bee widely welcomed by the police. The IPCC also dissemiates learig through i-depth research studies, which have also bee well received. 26 A key requiremet of ay complaits orgaisatio is to esure that it keeps complaiats ad those beig ivestigated up to date with progress. The statutory guidace states that complaiats should be updated every 28 days, ad police officers iformed at appropriate poits i the ivestigatio. We foud from our sample of cases that the IPCC is good at keepig complaiats up to date through formal updates, with regular writte cotact beig maitaied i 92 per cet of applicable cases. The IPCC provided police officers uder ivestigatio with regular writte cotact i 69 per cet of applicable cases, ad also made use of the process of cotactig officers through their home force. The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio 7
27 The IPCC has udertake surveys of the public which show a high level of cofidece i the impartiality of the complaits process but to date the IPCC has ot sought feedback from complaiats, police officers or appellats o how the IPCC has hadled their case, although the IPCC plas to coduct surveys of this ature i 2008-09. 28 The IPCC egages with stakeholders at atioal, regioal ad local levels o orgaisatioal ad case specific issues. It also has a Advisory Board which meets quarterly ad icludes police represetative groups ad orgaisatios represetig complaiats. Out of the 15 member orgaisatios, all but two represet govermet, police or staff iterests. Part of the challege i dealig with o-police orgaisatios is the lack of a sigle over-archig group to represet complaiat iterests. The Advisory Board is the mai forum for stakeholders to provide feedback to IPCC Commissioers ad seior maagers o how the IPCC is performig. We foud that geerally the police groups were cotet with the way the Advisory Board was operatig ad were supportive of the IPCC s aims ad its overall effectiveess i hadlig complaits, although they had cocers about the time take by the IPCC to deal with some cases. The complaiat groups were less cotet with the Advisory Board, ad questioed its usefuless. Overall coclusio o value for moey 29 The IPCC has bee i existece for four years after takig over from the Police Complaits Authority, ad has made sigificat progress i overcomig the atipathy with which its predecessor orgaisatio was viewed. At a time whe its resources are stretched because its workload is icreasig, the IPCC has icreased its efficiecy i dealig with cases ad has improved its performace agaist targets for maagig a icreasig workload, although there are variatios betwee regios ad work streams. It has also embarked o a stock-take of the police complaits system ad a Busiess Chage Programme to improve the IPCC s efficiecy ad effectiveess further. 30 It is difficult to obtai full assurace about the quality of the IPCC s work because the IPCC s quality cotrol procedures are uderdeveloped ad icosistetly applied, ad there is o effective exteral scrutiy of the IPCC s ivestigative work. Quality cotrol reform is oe of the IPCC s objectives i its Busiess Pla for 2008-09. 31 As regards the outcomes from its work, the IPCC has made sigificat strides i dissemiatig wider lessos for the police, which have bee well received. It does ot do eough, however, to satisfy itself that the recommedatios it makes o idividual ivestigatios are acted upo ad implemeted. Nor does it survey complaiats, police officers ad appellats to gai feedback o its impartiality ad effectiveess. I these respects, value for moey remais to be demostrated. 8 The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio
Recommedatios 32 Agaist the above backgroud, we make the followig recommedatios. i ii iii iv v Supervised ivestigatios are ot a effective use of IPCC resources, sice they add to the IPCC s workload without allowig the IPCC ay direct role i the way the ivestigatio is maaged by the police. I the light of the outcome of its stock-take of the police complaits system ad i cojuctio with the Home Office, the IPCC should decide whether this category of ivestigatio should be retaied. The IPCC is facig a icreasig workload at a time whe its fudig is beig reduced i real terms. As part of its Busiess Chage Programme, the IPCC should cotiue to ivestigate the possibility of relocatig its head office from Cetral Lodo. The IPCC is ot yet providig full guidace ad traiig for its staff, although ew starters are give iductio guidace, o-the-job traiig ad supervisio. The IPCC should develop a comprehesive maual for ivestigators; ad update guidace o the role of Commissioers. Accredited traiig should be provided for all caseworkers o a accelerated basis. The IPCC s Commissioers are ultimately accoutable for the quality ad timeliess of a ivestigatio but we foud a umber of examples where there was o auditable record that a Commissioer had reviewed ad approved a ivestigatio report. Commissioers should provide writte evidece to cofirm that they have reviewed ad agreed the coclusios ad recommedatios of the seior ivestigator s report. The IPCC s iteral review fuctio is ot operatig as iteded. The IPCC should streamlie its self assessmet process to focus o the key aspects of the ivestigatio that eed to be reviewed. Seior ivestigators should complete self-ispectio assessmets for all idepedet ivestigatios at least oce durig the duratio of a ivestigatio. Each self-ispectio should be reviewed by a resposible perso i the IPCC, who is idepedet of the ivestigatig team resposible for the case. vi vii viii ix x There is curretly o formal review of cases after they have bee completed. The IPCC should istitute a system of post-ivestigatio reviews of idepedet ivestigatios, to iclude reviewig the role of the Casework Maager ad ivestigators. The IPCC s ivestigative work is ot curretly subject to ay exteral scrutiy. The IPCC should explore how to itroduce a system of exteral review of its cases, for example, by egagig a suitable orgaisatio or orgaisatios to udertake a quality review of a sample of its ivestigatios ad appeals. Possible orgaisatios might iclude other UK police complaits hadlig, audit or ivestigatory bodies. There is sigificat icosistecy across IPCC regios i the way recommedatios arisig from ivestigatios are beig followed up. The IPCC should agree ad stadardise the moitorig of police forces ackowledgemet ad acceptace of recommedatios i all its regios. No oe orgaisatio has resposibility for moitorig the implemetatio of recommedatios by police forces. The IPCC should develop suitable arragemets to satisfy itself that IPCC recommedatios accepted by a police force have bee properly implemeted. The IPCC s lack of research ito the experieces of complaiats ad affected members of police forces is a weakess. The IPCC should udertake regular satisfactio surveys to obtai feedback ad idetify actios that eed to be take to improve cliet satisfactio with the way the IPCC does its work. The IPCC should also review ad agree the format ad frequecy of updates for complaiats ad affected police officers for idepedet ivestigatios, maaged ivestigatios ad appeals. The Idepedet Police Complaits Commissio 9