ALLOWING Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) cases against officers to drag on for years without being resolved is \u2018wholly unacceptable\u2019, says Essex Police Federation.<\/p>\n
A recent case against officers in Bedfordshire took seven years to investigate before the gross misconduct charges they faced were dropped.<\/p>\n
The investigation was directed by the IOPC and is the latest in a long line of cases which have taken a disproportionately long time to resolve.<\/p>\n
The officers were suspended throughout the six and a half year-long investigation, which is thought to have cost over \u00a31m.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s prompted PFEW Conduct and Performance Lead Phill Matthews to renew calls for legacy caseloads to be reviewed and for disclosure training for IOPC investigators to be urgently improved.<\/p>\n
Essex Police Federation is happy to offer its backing to the campaign says Federation Chairman Steve Taylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not acceptable that even a small percentage of cases involving the IOPC are allowed to fester into years – it\u2019s wholly unacceptable for it to happen even once,\u201d Steve said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would push for and welcome an immediate review of all those legacy cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cConfidence in the IOPC ebbs away almost daily, and its ability to undermine its position never ceases to amaze me.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust look at the investigation into those officers driving to a terrorist incident on Streatham High Street. That is shocking. Shockingly disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n
IOPC Director General Michael Lockwood promised reform when he took over the role back in 2017, but his labours are still yet to bear fruit according to Steve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen movement, but a lot of those promises have just not materialised,\u201d Steve said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new Director General set out with high intention and fanfare and, questionably, has failed to deliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of transparency and accountability in that organisation continues to be a source of real concern for frontline officers who want to have a body responsible for independently investigating us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want it to be premier. We want it to be respected, respectable, professional and capable, and I\u2019m afraid, in this officer\u2019s view, it is none of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fear of facing unfair, unneeded and disproportionate IOPC investigations can paralyse decision making among officers, Steve warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be really surprised if it wasn\u2019t affecting decision making, particularly in some of the more bespoke roles; pursuit drivers, authorised firearms officers and custody officers \u2013 those roles who are more likely to come into contact with people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey absolutely are aware of what the IOPC is, and their involvement in any of the activities we perform, what that looks like – they\u2019re right to be cautious because confidence [in the IOPC] has waned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allowing the police to investigate the police has to be the answer to address what is becoming a \u2018depressing situation\u2019 across the country, Steve added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IOPC severely handicap themselves in their drive to be seen to be independent by which they close their ranks to experienced investigators from police backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best people at investigating the police are the police.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not even a mixed picture; it\u2019s just a depressing picture across the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ALLOWING Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) cases against officers to drag on for years without being resolved is \u2018wholly unacceptable\u2019, says Essex Police Federation. A recent case against officers\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111052,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110810\/revisions\/111052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/110991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}