Complaints
The APA can help by explaining complaints procedures in relation to the police authority and police force, but we are not directly involved in the complaints process itself and cannot help to process your complaint. We can supply contact details for the relevant organisations, but the APA is not a governing body and is not able to hold police authorities or police forces to account.
Police Authority Members or Staff
If you would like to make a complaint about a member of a police authority you should do so in writing to the monitoring officer at the police authority concerned. This complaint will then be assessed by the police authority’s Standards Committee, chaired by an independent lay person. They will decide and report to you whether it is appropriate to progress the complaint. If you feel that your complaint has not been dealt with appropriately then you are able to appeal to the Standards Board for England. For more information and advice on this process you should contact your local police authority.
If you would like to make a complaint about a staff member of a police authority you will need to put this complaint in writing to the Chief Executive of the police authority concerned, unless your complaint is against the Chief Executive in which case you should write to the Chair of the police authority. An internal assessment will be made and the outcome of this decision and any further actions to be taken will be reported back to you. If you are unhappy with this decision you are able to make a further appeal to the Chair of the police authority, unless he/she was involved in the first instance. If this is the case then the police authority will advise on the appropriate individual to contact, in most cases this will be the Local Government Ombudsman.
Police Officers
If you would like to make a complaint about a police officer of ACPO rank (an Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable or Chief Constable) you will need to contact your police Authority. It is the role of the authority to decide on how to best to investigate this complaint, including whether or not it is appropriate to refer the matter to the Indpendent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
If you would like to make a complaint about the conduct of a police officer of non-ACPO rank (below the rank of Assistant Chief Constable) you should fill out a complaints form which can be obtained from your local police force, this will then need to be sent to the force headquarters. This complaint will then be dealt with by the force, through their internal misconduct procedures. This might involve referring the matter to the IPCC where appropriate but may also include handling this through disciplinary procedures. Your police authority will monitor force complaints processes and mechanisms to ensure they are fair and balanced. If you feel that your complaint has not been dealt with appropriately then you can appeal to the police authority to look into the complaint further.
Feedback
Your local police authority is pleased to receive feedback about policing in your area. Please contact your police authority directly if you’d like to make your views known.