IOPC take too long to investigate cases says Federation

THE Independent Office for Police Conduct is taking too long to resolve cases, leaving officers ‘toiling under the yolk’ of investigations.

Steve Taylor, Essex Police Federation Chairman has called the average 233 working days it takes to resolve cases ‘disgusting’ and said it can be a key contributing factor to officers taking time off sick with stress – just when frontline policing is being stretched like never before.

He says suspects in criminal cases are treated better than officers under IOPC review.

“It’s a disgustingly long period of time and let’s not forget that’s an average figure, we’ve got officers still waiting for an outcome after three years of IOPC investigation.

“The impact it can have on members cannot be underestimated – we have officers going off with stress, officers not available to work simply because they are toiling under the yolk of needlessly long investigations at the hands of the IOPC.

“We don’t treat criminal suspects they same way we treat witnesses or officers under investigation by that internal process.

“We have very strict rules on bail which were brought in because it was deemed that some suspects were too long on bail whilst under investigation, it’s no different to someone being on bail to professionally an officer being under investigation by the IOPC, it simply shouldn’t be.

“And when officers complain to the IOPC the person who investigates that complaint is from the IOPC – it’s ludicrous.”

Steve says red tape is to blame for the delays at the IOPC and thinks the actual investigations, the hard work behind each case often take up a fraction of the time it currently takes to get them resolved.

And he’s calling on the organisation’s new Director General, Michael Lockwood, who took up the reins earlier this year, to shake things up.

“It’s just not acceptable that the IOPC can take so long without any recourse. There’s very little meaningful oversight – I’ve heard Mr Lockwood talk about some of the legacy issues he’s inherited, one of those is the timelines involved in investigations.

“It’s incumbent on him and his new regime to do something about it, because it’s not acceptable.”