| Chapter 7:
Complaints and Conduct |
| Statistics |
| 7.1 In
1997/98, 60 complaints were made by members of the
public, a rise of 14 from the previous year and more than
twice the number in the year before that. Although the
figure is relatively low, the force will nevertheless
wish to monitor the trend closely to establish whether
there are particular patterns emerging and, more
importantly, what lessons (if any) are there to be
learned and addressed. |
| 7.2 The
Primary Inspection Report on the force commented that
"complaints made against Northern Constabulary are
investigated by the Complaints and Discipline Department
in a professional and firm manner", but highlighted
two areas which it was felt required to be addressed. |
| Complaint Monitoring |
| 7.3 Firstly,
it was noted that there were no procedures to identify an
officer who was the subject of a disproportionate number
of complaints, but it was hoped that a planned upgrade of
the department's computer system would provide such a
monitoring mechanism. |
| Review
Inspection Findings |
| 7.4 No such
system had been developed by the time of the Review
inspection but proposals to progress the matter had been
prepared. HMIC were informed that as an interim measure a
manual system was used for this purpose. Such evidence as
is available to HMIC indicates that this is an informal
system not yet capable of including locally resolved
complaints. Whilst it is accepted that the relatively
small number of complaints allows the extraction of much
information by manual means the force is nevertheless
encouraged to make full use of technology for complaints
analysis at the earliest opportunity. |
| Care of Prisoners |
| 7.5 The
second matter referred to concerns about the care of
prisoners which had resulted from one particular
complaint case. This caused HMIC to comment that it had
"concern with regard to the care of prisoners"
and to indicate that the review inspection would examine
the action taken in the light of these concerns. |
| Review
Inspection Findings |
| 7.6 Cells
were visited throughout the force area and in general
were found to be clean and in order with widespread use
of CCTV at the charge bars and within the cell
passageways. It is expected that the forthcoming move to
the Inverness police office will provide much improved
facilities for that area with a more modern design and
better observation arrangements. Whilst these
developments were welcomed HMIC noted that in respect of
training in the rights and care of prisoners there had
been no significant developments since the primary
inspection. At the time of the review inspection the
force stated that training would take place following the
move to the new Divisional Office at Inverness although
no training package had yet been developed. However,
given the multipurpose nature of policing within Northern
Constabulary, in which staff throughout the force can be
called upon at any time to oversee the care and custody
of a prisoner, it is important that a training package is
developed quickly and that training in the rights and
care of prisoners is extended to all areas of the force. |
| 7.7 Due to
the widespread nature of the area, a number of offices
throughout Northern Constabulary have 'legalised cells'
which are used to hold remanded or sentenced prisoners
temporarily, where distance precludes them from being
taken to a prison. Shortly before the Review inspection
of the force, these cells had been subject to a triennial
inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons. |
| 7.8 At the
time of the Inspection, a superintendent had been tasked
to develop good practice in the custody and care of
prisoners and HMIC will be interested to see how the
issue is progressed by the force. In this very
important area of police duties it is vital that policy
and guidelines are applied in a way which has a positive
impact on operational practice. Some form of internal
monitoring or quality control may be desirable. |
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