Independent Police Complaints Commission
44.The Independent Police Complaints Commission (“the IPCC”) was established by Part 2 of the Police Reform Act 2002 (“the 2002 Act”) to provide an effective and independent means of overseeing the investigation of complaints and alleged misconduct relating to the police in England and Wales. It has a general duty to secure public confidence in the arrangements for handling complaints (and other matters). The IPCC came into being in April 2004, replacing its predecessor, the Police Complaints Authority.
45.The 2002 Act sets out the statutory framework in accordance with which the IPCC has oversight of police complaints, conduct matters and death or serious injury (“DSI”) matters. These are the three principal ways in which a matter may be considered by the IPCC: as a complaint, relating to the conduct of a person serving with the police; as a “conduct matter”, where there is no complaint, but there is an indication that a person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a way which would justify disciplinary proceedings; or where there has been a DSI following direct or indirect contact with the police.
46.Chief officers and local policing bodies (that is Police and Crime Commissioners or, in London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Common Council of the City of London) have a duty under the 2002 Act to record complaints, conduct matters and DSI matters that fall within the 2002 Act and in respect of which they are the appropriate authority. All DSI matters and certain categories of complaints and conduct matters (as set out in paragraphs 4 and 13 of Schedule 3 to the 2002 Act and regulations 4 and 7 of the Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2012) must be referred to the IPCC. The IPCC encourages appropriate authorities to refer complaints or incidents that do not come within these categories but where the gravity of the subject matter or exceptional circumstances justifies referral. The IPCC may also require any complaint or recordable conduct matter to be referred to it by the appropriate authority.
47.When cases are referred to the IPCC, it assesses the seriousness of the case and the public interest and determines the form of investigation. There are four types of investigation:
Independent investigations – These are carried out by IPCC investigators and overseen by an IPCC Commissioner. The IPCC investigator has all the powers and privileges of a police constable.
Managed investigations – These are carried out by Professional Standards Departments (“PSDs”) of police forces under the direction and control of the IPCC.
Supervised investigations – These are carried out by police PSDs under their own direction and control. The IPCC sets the terms of reference and receives the final report.
Local investigations – These are carried out entirely by police PSDs.
48.Following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report(25) on 12 September 2012 and the subsequent debate in the House of Commons on 22 October 2012 (Official Report columns 719 to 804), the powers and capacity of the IPCC came into the spotlight. As a result, the Government gave a commitment to provide the IPCC with the powers and resources required to exercise its statutory functions in investigating complaints against those serving with the police.
49.The Police (Complaints and Conduct) Act 2012, and the Police (Complaints and Conduct) Regulations 2013 provide the IPCC with new powers to: (a) require an individual currently serving under the direction and control of a chief officer, who witnessed matters under investigation, to attend an interview by the IPCC; and (b) investigate a matter which was previously the subject of an investigation by its predecessor, the Police Complaints Authority.
50.Separately, the IPCC made the case for a further enhancement of its powers in its May 2012 report on Corruption in the Police Service in England and Wales.(26) In that report the IPCC argued that in order to investigate directly and tackle more cases of corruption, it would need to be able to investigate “contracted out employees, to gain access to data held by third parties and to require formal response to our recommendations”.
51.The Home Affairs Select Committee (“HASC”) subsequently conducted an inquiry into the IPCC. In its report, published on 1 February 2013,(27) HASC concluded that “it is vital to have a body that is truly independent and competent to get to the truth of the matter and ensure that misconduct and criminality in the police force cannot go unpunished”. In identifying weaknesses in the IPCC’s ability to inspire public confidence, HASC concluded that “the Commission must bring the police complaints system up to scratch and the Government must give it the powers it needs to do so”. Sections 135 to 139 implement two of the specific recommendations of the HASC report and confer other powers on the IPCC intended to enable it to discharge its statutory functions more effectively.
52.In addition to strengthening the IPCC’s powers, the Home Secretary announced in an oral statement on Police Integrity on 12 February 2013 (House of Commons, Official Report, columns 713 to 714) that she would transfer to the IPCC responsibility for dealing with all serious and sensitive cases and, as a corollary to this, transfer resources from forces to the IPCC in order to ensure that it has the budget and the manpower to do its work. Annex D sets out details of the number of complaints made against police forces in England and Wales in 2011/12 and how these, and other conduct and DSI matters, were dealt with by forces and the IPCC.
http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/news/Pages/pr_240512_corruptionreport.aspx?auto=True&l1link=pages%2Fnews.aspx&l1title=News%20and%20press&l2link=news%2FPages%2Fdefault.aspx&l2title=Press%20ReleasesBack [2]
House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee report, ‘Independent Police Complaints Commission’, Eleventh Report of Session 2012–13: cmhaff/494/494.pdf">http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmhaff/494/494.pdf">cmhaff/494/494.pdfBack [3]
