One in three people in the South West are not confident their complaint will be handled fairly by police, a new survey for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The finding is consistent with the IPCC's own recently published reviews of police handling of complaints, part of its ongoing work and the IPCC's three-year plan for improving public confidence in the complaints system, also published today.
While 56 per cent of respondents in the South West were either very or fairly confident, 34 per cent were either not very or not at all confident that the police would deal with their complaints against them fairly.
The survey of more than 4,000 people in England and Wales found three-quarters (76 per cent) of people in the South West region were happy with their recent contact with police, and a similarly high proportion (81 per cent) of people were willing to complain if really unhappy about how a police officer had behaved towards them or handled a matter they were involved in.
Dame Anne Owers, IPCC chairman, said: "The majority of the 30,000 complaints made annually about the police are handled by the police service itself.
"This survey shows that too many people are still either unsure of how to make a complaint about the police or don't believe their complaint will be dealt with fairly. It is particularly worrying that young people and those from ethnic minorities have lower confidence in the complaints system.
"The survey underlines the importance of the plan we are launching and there is clearly more work to be done by both the police and IPCC to improve access, awareness and trust in the complaints system and those who work in it.
"Later this year the IPCC will begin to take on more independent investigations into serious and sensitive allegations made against the police. That is an important part of our statutory responsibility to ensure public confidence in the police complaints system. But it is not enough, by itself, to achieve that aim.
"The survey findings underline the need for more work to address public confidence concerns, and how important it is we take forward our plans for improving complaints handling, in partnership with forces, PCCs, and other policing bodies."
Other key findings for the South West region include:
An increasing proportion felt the IPCC would deal with their complaint impartially (76 per cent compared with 68 per cent in 2011);
The proportion of people (76 per cent) happy with their contact with police is higher than the overall average for England & Wales (66 per cent);
Twenty-two per cent of people asked had had contact with police in the last 12 months (overall average for England & Wales 23 per cent).
↧
