Police complaints rise

COMPLAINTS against Sussex police officers increased by one per cent last year, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has announced.

In its recently published annual complaints statistics for all 43 police forces, the IPCC’s report saw Sussex Police record 746 complaints against officers, compared with 737 in the previous recording period.

A single complaint case can comprise of a number of allegations. The total number of allegations contained within the complaints for Sussex was 1055, an increase of two per cent on the previous year. The main allegations concerned neglect or failure in duty and incivility - also known as ‘rude and late’.

IPCC Commissioner for the South East, Mike Franklin, said: “Complaints in Sussex have seen a slight rise, although it is so small I do not think it is enough to draw any significant conclusions. In general terms I want to encourage the police service to see complaints as an important part of improving the service they provide to local people.”

Nationally the figures show that last year 33,854 people complained about the police in England and Wales - an eight per cent increase on the previous year.

This year the IPCC has introduced a new set of ‘key indicators’, to help identify how well complaints are being handled.

The figures include information about the length of time it takes for complaints to be recorded and how long different types of investigations take. This is initially a nationwide overview but later this year the information will also be published on the IPCC website about individual forces quarterly. Mr Franklin added: “We think it is important to make this information available to the public to encourage them to engage in informed dialogue with their local police service.”