Page 94 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

panel, 256 to come to a decision about whether to agree with the IOPCs findings
and whether any consequences should follow. No data is collected on how
often these panels agree with the findings of the IOPC. We therefore
recommend that the IOPC should be empowered to collect data on the
outcomes of police conduct panels and the consequences for officers. This
should include a breakdown of the complainants’ ethnicity, as well as the
police force (and subdivision, such as the TSG) to which the complaint relates.

4.42 In February 2020, the IOPC gained powers to commence an investigation of
its own initiative. 257 This is important as the ability for misconduct to come to
their attention has increased with social media and the propensity for people to
film police incidents. We hope this will help address the reticence of many
children to raise a complaint in the first place. 258 To strengthen the process, we
consider that all complaints relating to children should automatically meet
the threshold for an IOPC investigation. Adapting procedures in this way
would not only mean children have an extra assurance that their complaints
will be properly investigated but also that more evidence is collected as part of
the IOPC’s thematic focus on race discrimination investigations, given the
wider scope of complaints captured. 259

4.43 Super Complaints 260 allow a designated body to bring a complaint where “a
feature, or combination of features, of policing in England and Wales by one

256 This panel is comprised of one member of the relevant police force (or representative of Her Majesty's
Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services where the complaint concerns a senior officer),
another person and chaired by an independent, legally qualified person, not selected from a pool held
by the local police force.
257 “The IOPC may treat any complaint, conduct matter or DSI matter which comes to its attention
otherwise than by being referred by the appropriate authority, as having been referred, whether or not
that matter has been recorded.”, IPOC, ‘Statutory Guidance on the police complaints system’, (February
2020), para 9.36.
258 The lack of complaints is particularly apparent with BAME children. Release and Y-Stop developed
an app that allows children and young people to make a complaint following being stopped and searched.
The app also has a function that automatically sends the information to Release so that the complaint is
not lost. Despite being download 30,000 times, only a tiny number of complaints have been made
through the app. However, more children have sent details to Release, not wishing to start the formal
complaints process, demonstrating a desire to at least document any alleged malpractice.

259 IOPC, ‘IOPC announces thematic focus on race discrimination investigations’, 10 July 2020.
260 A triage committee comprising of the IOPC, HMICFRS, and the College of Policing (COP) is
responsible for assessing a super complaint and deciding what action, if any, will be taken in response,
IOPC, ‘Super-complaints and working with other policing oversight bodies’.

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