Page 95 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

or more than one police force is, or appears to be, significantly harming the
interests of the public.” This provides another avenue for the IOPC to
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investigate and make recommendations to police bodies. 262 Organisations
should consider whether they may be well placed to raise a super complaint.
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4.44 Increased public understanding of the complaints process is vital, especially
for children. To this end, the IOPC has convened a youth panel. The panel is
comprised of children who have had experience of the justice system, with
68% being BAME. 264 The panel forms part of the IOPCs wider work in
engaging with local communities who have a strained relationship with the
police. For instance, following the paralysis of a young man who was tasered
by police as he jumped over a wall, 265 the IOPC spoke with the affected
community and established a community reference group to provide ongoing
reassurance and engagement about how the complaints process and
investigation would proceed. It is hoped the panel will improve the information
that is disseminated and help the IOPC to understand what children and young
adults would like to see change in policing.

Community Scrutiny Panels

4.45 In addition to the IOPC’s formal complaints mechanism, regular scrutiny of
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police actions can also serve to improve performance. Under PACE Code A,
community scrutiny is a requirement for stop and search, with the College of

261 Section 29A, Police Reform Act 2002.
262 See, for example, a super complaint by the Tees Valley Inclusion Project that directly relates to police
investigations of sexual abuse affecting BAME complainants. See, Halo Project, ‘Super complaint’
launched against police by Teesside charity to combat ‘systemic issue’’, (26 August 2020).
In addition to this, there was a complaint by Hestia about the police response to victims of modern
slavery. See, Gov.uk, ‘Police super-complaints: police response to victims of modern slavery: Super-
complaint made by Hestia’, (2019).
263 “To be able to make a super-complaint, an organisation must apply to the Home Office to become a
‘designated organisation’. Members of the public cannot submit a super-complaint.”, IOPC, ‘Super-
complaints and working with other policing oversight bodies’, see - Gov.uk, ‘Police super-complaints:
police response to victims of modern slavery: Super-complaint made by Hestia’, (2019).
264 IOPC, ‘Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) Youth Panel: Key findings and
recommendations 2019’.
265 J. Kelly, ‘Man paralysed in taser fall says race made him a target’, BBC News, 24 June 2020.
266 PACE Code A, para 5.4.

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