Complaints and misconduct file review 2018 – South Wales Police
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From:
Wendy Williams
Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
To:
Matt Jukes
Chief Constable
South Wales Police
Sent on:
16 January 2019
Complaints and misconduct file review 2018
Dear Matt,
I write to give you a summary of the review of complaints and misconduct files that we carried out in your force on 10 and 11 December 2018. Thank you for the assistance and information your staff gave my inspectors. I was very pleased to see that we found a great improvement across all the areas we reviewed.
Initial information to complainants
2. During our 2017 legitimacy inspection we assessed whether forces had complied with the legislation that requires them to give information to complainants when they record a complaint. The legislation[1] requires forces to:
- explain to complainants how their complaint may be dealt with;
- advise them who is dealing with the complaint and give their contact details; and
- give the complainant a copy of the record made of their complaint.
3. In 2017 we found that your force had only given the information in two of the 25 cases we assessed.
4. In December 2018, we found that your force had given the required information in all 25 of the cases we reviewed.
Keeping complainants and staff updated
5. In 2017, we assessed whether forces had given complainants regular updates on the progress of their complaint investigation. The legislation[2] requires forces to do this at least every four weeks. We found that your force had only given updates in seven of the 25 cases we reviewed.
6. In December 2018, we found that your force had given the required updates in 22 out of the 25 cases we reviewed.
7. Being a witness or the subject of an allegation can be very stressful. So, we looked for the same level of updates to be given to staff involved in internal misconduct matters. In 2017 we found that your force had only given updates in three of the 15 cases we reviewed.
8. In December 2018, we found that your force had given updates in all 13 of the cases we reviewed.
Communicating the outcome to complainants
9. In 2017 we looked at whether forces had provided complainants with the findings of the complaint report, the force’s determinations and the complainant’s right of appeal[3]. We found that your force had only given the information in 14 of the 25 cases we reviewed.
10. In December 2018, we found that your force had given the required information in all 25 of the cases we reviewed.
Other areas
11. We also found that your force had investigated satisfactorily all ten of the complaints that alleged discrimination. And it had referred all the matters to the IOPC that it was required to refer.
Next steps
12. We expect to conduct another review of complaint and misconduct cases in future integrated PEEL inspections.
References
[1] Regulation 15 of the Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2012 and Paragraphs 3.4-3.8 of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) statutory guidance
[2] Section 20 of the Police Reform Act 2002 and Regulation 12 of the Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2012
[3] Paragraph 24 of Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002, and paragraphs 12.2–12.9 of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) statutory guidance
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Complaints and misconduct file review 2018 – South Wales Police