Police complaints in England and Wales top 100,000 for first time

Police complaints in England and Wales passed 100,000 for the first time last year, rising 17 per cent, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). The watchdog said the increase was the biggest ever year-on-year rise.

The IOPC said the easy assumption, that the service is getting poorer, was not one it signed up to. It pointed to previous under-recording by some forces, greater knowledge of the complaint system and growing use of AI in making complaints. It also noted that some members of the public had previously been apprehensive about complaining or unsure of the process.

Most complaints were about poor service. Police power and policy made up 22 per cent of complaints, and 11 per cent were accusations against individual officers or staff.

Separately, a complainant, Mark Dove, described his experience. He complained after he believes he was unlawfully arrested at home in the early hours of the morning with disproportionate force, and later strip-searched in police custody in Greater Manchester. He said the complaint process had taken a toll on him and that forces spend a lot of time trying to get out of complaints rather than admitting what happened.

The IOPC said it was speeding up its investigations and that local forces were improving how they investigate themselves. It said reviews were now completed within about 50 working days, a reduction of about 100 working days.

The watchdog also placed the rise in complaints in a wider policing context. Overall crime has fallen in England and Wales since the mid-1990s, but police work has become more complex. Domestic abuse and sexual cases make up a greater proportion of police work and can be challenging. Forensic and digital evidence has become more important and more complicated, and police administration is rising. The majority of complaints relate to the level of service provided, and forces frequently say they are stretched while managing competing priorities and demands.

The figures point to a system under pressure, and to a public trust debate that depends partly on whether complaints are recorded properly, handled in reasonable time and seen to be taken seriously.