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June 2008
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) came under further fire when a High Court judge called its thinking ‘fatally flawed’. Mr Justice Saunders made the criticism when considering R (Dennis) v Independent Police Complaints Commission CO/9140/2007, 6 May 2008, a case highlighted in ‘A watchdog without bite’, April 2008 Legal Action 7. The IPCC, which was set up in April 2004 to replace a discredited Police Complaints Authority, was dealt a severe blow when more than 100 members of the Police Action Lawyers’ Group (PALG) withdrew their backing for the commission and two of the group’s representative members, Tony Murphy and Raju Bhatt of Bhatt Murphy solicitors, resigned from its advisory board this year.
The feature article in April’s Legal Action showed that the PALG’s concerns were widely endorsed by lawyers, campaigners and families. The article highlighted the case of Nicola Dennis, a 27-year-old single mother, who in November 2005 was held on the pavement, face down, with her hands taped with plastic strips behind herback for 40 minutes. She had been innocently caught up in the search for the killers of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, who was shot dead as she responded to an alarm at a travel agent’s shop in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The incident took place a few months after the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. ‘I thought I was going to die,’ Nicola Dennis told Legal Action. A woman police officer visited Nicola Dennis later at home where she told her that she happened to be ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’.
Nicola Dennis complained about the police’s conduct and the Metropolitan Police carried out a supervised investigation, which reported back, in April 2007, with the sole finding that a stop and search form had not been completed. The following month, Nicola Dennis appealed to the IPCC. Its response, in July 2007, was ‘confusing and confused’, according to her solicitor Marian Ellingworth of the criminal defence firm, Tuckers. The solicitor described it as a ‘terrifying and wholly unnecessary ordeal’ and said that there was ‘no justification for suspecting Nicola or using such a high level of force and no explanation as to why she was treated so differently from [her friend, who was with Nicola at the time of the police raid]’. The IPCC conceded that the officer’s actions were ‘overzealous’ and said that he deserved ‘words of advice’.
Mr Justice Saunders found that the IPCC caseworker had ‘been led into error because she has misunderstood important findings of fact’ and that her reasoning was ‘confusing’. He also criticised a ‘lack of clarity in reasoning’ which made the decision difficult to understand and stressed that Nicola Dennis was ‘entitled to have a proper review’. ‘It is important that the functions of the [IPCC] are carried out properly to maintain public confidence in the system and the police force and to ensure that if there are lessons to be learnt that that happens.’ Marian Ellingworth said that she was delighted for her client, who had been through ‘a horrible ordeal’. ‘I am also very pleased that the generally poor quality of the IPCC’s decision-making has been exposed through this judgment. I can only hope that this will lead to some improvement,’ she added.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
IPCC 'wrong' over withheld report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/6936769.stm
August 2007
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has admitted it was wrong to keep a report about a fatal crash from the Sussex Police Authority.
The IPCC investigated Sussex Police's involvement in the crash in St Leonards that killed five teenagers in 2005.
A report was then released to the victims' families and to the force but not to the authority because it was deemed to be "not an interested party".
Now the IPCC has relented and said it was reviewing its policy.
'Monitoring complaints'
The authority had argued that as it was an overseer of Sussex Police it made it an essential recipient of the report.
In a letter to the authority, Nick Hardwick, IPCC chairman said: "I believe you are right in criticising our decision not to allow the disclosure of the report to the police authority.
"We are now reviewing our policy on disclosure to police authorities more generally."
Lionel Barnard, chairman of the authority, said: "We are pleased the IPCC has acknowledged that it got this wrong and that the proper role of the authority in monitoring complaints against the police is recognised."
In a statement, the IPCC said: "The disclosure of reports is a complex area.
"The IPCC is working with its advisory group, that includes the Association of Police Authorities, to agree a policy about disclosure of our investigation reports."
Kelly Goring, 17, Daniel Carwardine and Danielle Martin, both 16, Barrie Mackay, 15, and Lee Morgan, 14, died in the crash in Battle Road.
The teenagers were in a stolen Metro car which crashed minutes after it had been spotted by a marked police vehicle on 29 October, 2005.
It hit a lamppost, three walls and another car parked on a driveway.
In April the IPCC concluded a police officer whose vehicle was involved in the crash would not face disciplinary proceedings.
August 2007
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has admitted it was wrong to keep a report about a fatal crash from the Sussex Police Authority.
The IPCC investigated Sussex Police's involvement in the crash in St Leonards that killed five teenagers in 2005.
A report was then released to the victims' families and to the force but not to the authority because it was deemed to be "not an interested party".
Now the IPCC has relented and said it was reviewing its policy.
'Monitoring complaints'
The authority had argued that as it was an overseer of Sussex Police it made it an essential recipient of the report.
In a letter to the authority, Nick Hardwick, IPCC chairman said: "I believe you are right in criticising our decision not to allow the disclosure of the report to the police authority.
"We are now reviewing our policy on disclosure to police authorities more generally."
Lionel Barnard, chairman of the authority, said: "We are pleased the IPCC has acknowledged that it got this wrong and that the proper role of the authority in monitoring complaints against the police is recognised."
In a statement, the IPCC said: "The disclosure of reports is a complex area.
"The IPCC is working with its advisory group, that includes the Association of Police Authorities, to agree a policy about disclosure of our investigation reports."
Kelly Goring, 17, Daniel Carwardine and Danielle Martin, both 16, Barrie Mackay, 15, and Lee Morgan, 14, died in the crash in Battle Road.
The teenagers were in a stolen Metro car which crashed minutes after it had been spotted by a marked police vehicle on 29 October, 2005.
It hit a lamppost, three walls and another car parked on a driveway.
In April the IPCC concluded a police officer whose vehicle was involved in the crash would not face disciplinary proceedings.
Crisis at police watchdog as lawyers resign
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/feb/25/police.law1
More than 100 quit over claims of delay and poor decisions by IPCC
February 2008: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) faces a crisis of confidence after a network of more than a hundred lawyers who specialise in handling police complaints resigned from its advisory body.
In a letter to Nick Hardwick, the IPCC's chairman, the lawyers' leaders expressed "increasing dismay and disillusionment" at what they described as "the consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC". They said the IPCC's response to their earlier attempts to deal with problems had been "pitifully poor".
The resignation is a blow to the commission's morale and reputation especially as it was welcomed by criminal lawyers when it was set up in April 2004. After 40 years of slow progress, the organisation was seen as providing a robust and independent system for dealing with complaints against police officers.
But an investigation by the Guardian has found evidence of a cluster of administrative problems. These include:
· A failure to provide effective oversight for the work of the police investigators who still handle most complaints;
· a pattern of favouritism towards the police with some complaints being rejected in spite of apparently powerful evidence in their support;
· cases of indifference and rudeness towards complainants;
· extreme delays, with some complaints remaining unresolved after years of inaction and confusion;
· key decisions being taken by casework managers who have no legal qualifications, little relevant experience and minimal training;
· investigators and senior commissioners failing to work effectively with the result that some decisions have had to be overturned with the threat of court action.
Problems with investigators include one case in which an investigator was caught sending "raunchy emails" to a teenage girl whose family had been the victim of a crime he was looking into. In another case a family whose son had died in custody were taken aback when a female investigator walked out early from a meeting to get a facial.
In one sample case among dozens reviewed by the Guardian, Christine Hurst, whose son was stabbed to death in spring 2000, has been waiting for nearly eight years for a resolution of her complaint that police failed to protect him even though they knew his killer had made repeated threats. Police were warned on the night of his death that the killer was waiting outside his house with a knife.
Hurst said: "Despite fighting all these years, I haven't really got anywhere. The sheer fact that they can do this - and if they are doing it to me, they are doing it to other people as well. It is appalling."
The Police Action Lawyers Group, (PALG) which represents specialist lawyers on the IPCC's advisory board, has tried repeatedly to warn the commission about its problems. In October 2005, for example, they presented Hardwick with a dossier warning that, with few exceptions, "mediocrity appears to flourish unchecked, unmarked and, in many instances, unacknowledged".
In a subsequent email to Hardwick 18 months later, one lawyer said "attitudes appear to have deteriorated, reflected in recent examples which serve only to bring discredit and shame upon the IPCC".
The October 2005 dossier summarised 12 sample IPCC decisions and reported: "Sadly, in many of the cases we have dealt with over the 18 months since April 2004, we have been very disappointed by the poor quality of such decisions and, worse, the apparent lack of impartiality reflected in the reasoning given for such decisions.
"One common feature that seems to emerge is that primary decision-making functions are apparently being devolved to inexperienced and poorly trained junior staff lacking the qualifications and experience necessary for this important work and without the benefit of adequate or effective quality assurance procedures. More generally, the performance of those responsible for supervising, managing or conducting investigations has given cause for serious concern ..."
The joint resignation letter, signed on behalf of all of the lawyers last month by two PALG members, acknowledged "islands of good practice" but says their attempts to raise their concerns through the IPCC's advisory board were repeatedly frustrated: "Follow-up on agreed action points has been pitifully poor ... At times, the situation has been almost farcical: key decisions on our agenda items have not been minuted and, when eventually minuted, have not been actioned, even after we have chased progress."
Hardwick says this is unfair and that PALG failed to respond to his attempts to review the working of the advisory board. Speaking to the Guardian, he rejected PALG's grounds for resigning from the advisory board. He said IPCC evidence had held up in front of juries and coroners, and only a handful of decisions had been reversed after lawyers threatened to have them judicially reviewed.
More than 100 quit over claims of delay and poor decisions by IPCC
February 2008: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) faces a crisis of confidence after a network of more than a hundred lawyers who specialise in handling police complaints resigned from its advisory body.
In a letter to Nick Hardwick, the IPCC's chairman, the lawyers' leaders expressed "increasing dismay and disillusionment" at what they described as "the consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC". They said the IPCC's response to their earlier attempts to deal with problems had been "pitifully poor".
The resignation is a blow to the commission's morale and reputation especially as it was welcomed by criminal lawyers when it was set up in April 2004. After 40 years of slow progress, the organisation was seen as providing a robust and independent system for dealing with complaints against police officers.
But an investigation by the Guardian has found evidence of a cluster of administrative problems. These include:
· A failure to provide effective oversight for the work of the police investigators who still handle most complaints;
· a pattern of favouritism towards the police with some complaints being rejected in spite of apparently powerful evidence in their support;
· cases of indifference and rudeness towards complainants;
· extreme delays, with some complaints remaining unresolved after years of inaction and confusion;
· key decisions being taken by casework managers who have no legal qualifications, little relevant experience and minimal training;
· investigators and senior commissioners failing to work effectively with the result that some decisions have had to be overturned with the threat of court action.
Problems with investigators include one case in which an investigator was caught sending "raunchy emails" to a teenage girl whose family had been the victim of a crime he was looking into. In another case a family whose son had died in custody were taken aback when a female investigator walked out early from a meeting to get a facial.
In one sample case among dozens reviewed by the Guardian, Christine Hurst, whose son was stabbed to death in spring 2000, has been waiting for nearly eight years for a resolution of her complaint that police failed to protect him even though they knew his killer had made repeated threats. Police were warned on the night of his death that the killer was waiting outside his house with a knife.
Hurst said: "Despite fighting all these years, I haven't really got anywhere. The sheer fact that they can do this - and if they are doing it to me, they are doing it to other people as well. It is appalling."
The Police Action Lawyers Group, (PALG) which represents specialist lawyers on the IPCC's advisory board, has tried repeatedly to warn the commission about its problems. In October 2005, for example, they presented Hardwick with a dossier warning that, with few exceptions, "mediocrity appears to flourish unchecked, unmarked and, in many instances, unacknowledged".
In a subsequent email to Hardwick 18 months later, one lawyer said "attitudes appear to have deteriorated, reflected in recent examples which serve only to bring discredit and shame upon the IPCC".
The October 2005 dossier summarised 12 sample IPCC decisions and reported: "Sadly, in many of the cases we have dealt with over the 18 months since April 2004, we have been very disappointed by the poor quality of such decisions and, worse, the apparent lack of impartiality reflected in the reasoning given for such decisions.
"One common feature that seems to emerge is that primary decision-making functions are apparently being devolved to inexperienced and poorly trained junior staff lacking the qualifications and experience necessary for this important work and without the benefit of adequate or effective quality assurance procedures. More generally, the performance of those responsible for supervising, managing or conducting investigations has given cause for serious concern ..."
The joint resignation letter, signed on behalf of all of the lawyers last month by two PALG members, acknowledged "islands of good practice" but says their attempts to raise their concerns through the IPCC's advisory board were repeatedly frustrated: "Follow-up on agreed action points has been pitifully poor ... At times, the situation has been almost farcical: key decisions on our agenda items have not been minuted and, when eventually minuted, have not been actioned, even after we have chased progress."
Hardwick says this is unfair and that PALG failed to respond to his attempts to review the working of the advisory board. Speaking to the Guardian, he rejected PALG's grounds for resigning from the advisory board. He said IPCC evidence had held up in front of juries and coroners, and only a handful of decisions had been reversed after lawyers threatened to have them judicially reviewed.
Blow to IPCC as lawyers quit advisory body
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1579789/Blow-to-IPCC-as-lawyers-quit-advisory-body.html
26 Feb 2008 -Blow to IPCC as lawyers quit advisory body
The credibility of the police watchdog has been dealt a serious blow after a group representing more than 100 lawyers specialising in police complaints resigned from its advisory body.
The Police Action Lawyers Group (PALG) wrote to Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), expressing its "dismay and disillusionment" at "the consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC".
The resignation by the PALG, which represents specialist lawyers on the advisory board, threatens to damage the reputation of the commission, which was established in 2004 as an independent system for dealing with complaints against police.
The group repeatedly told the commission of its concerns.
In October 2005 it presented Mr Hardwick with a dossier warning that, with few exceptions, "mediocrity appears to flourish unchecked, unmarked and, in many instances, unacknowledged".
The document listed 12 sample IPCC decisions, concluding: "Sadly, in many of the cases we have dealt with over the 18 months, we have been very disappointed by the poor quality of such decisions and, worse, the apparent lack of impartiality reflected in the reasoning given for such decisions.
"One common feature that seems to emerge is that primary decision-making functions are apparently being devolved to poorly-trained junior staff.
"More generally, the performance of those responsible for supervising, managing or conducting investigations has given cause for serious concern..."
An investigation, by the Guardian newspaper, into the problems at the IPCC found evidence of favouritism towards the police, cases of indifference and rudeness towards complainants and extreme delays.
Mr Hardwick said the IPCC had improved the complaints system.
He said: "As far as we can tell, for the most part their complaints relate to cases from our predecessor [the Police Complaints Authority]."
26 Feb 2008 -Blow to IPCC as lawyers quit advisory body
The credibility of the police watchdog has been dealt a serious blow after a group representing more than 100 lawyers specialising in police complaints resigned from its advisory body.
The Police Action Lawyers Group (PALG) wrote to Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), expressing its "dismay and disillusionment" at "the consistently poor quality of decision-making at all levels of the IPCC".
The resignation by the PALG, which represents specialist lawyers on the advisory board, threatens to damage the reputation of the commission, which was established in 2004 as an independent system for dealing with complaints against police.
The group repeatedly told the commission of its concerns.
In October 2005 it presented Mr Hardwick with a dossier warning that, with few exceptions, "mediocrity appears to flourish unchecked, unmarked and, in many instances, unacknowledged".
The document listed 12 sample IPCC decisions, concluding: "Sadly, in many of the cases we have dealt with over the 18 months, we have been very disappointed by the poor quality of such decisions and, worse, the apparent lack of impartiality reflected in the reasoning given for such decisions.
"One common feature that seems to emerge is that primary decision-making functions are apparently being devolved to poorly-trained junior staff.
"More generally, the performance of those responsible for supervising, managing or conducting investigations has given cause for serious concern..."
An investigation, by the Guardian newspaper, into the problems at the IPCC found evidence of favouritism towards the police, cases of indifference and rudeness towards complainants and extreme delays.
Mr Hardwick said the IPCC had improved the complaints system.
He said: "As far as we can tell, for the most part their complaints relate to cases from our predecessor [the Police Complaints Authority]."
IPCC inquiry standards criticised
Feb' 2008: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7263010.stm
Lawyers representing people who have brought cases against the police have withdrawn from an advisory group to the police complaints panel.
The Police Action Lawyers' Group says it is concerned about allegations over investigations at the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
It says inquiries are being run by people without sufficient seniority.
However, the IPCC said the complaints were not representative of the majority of the work it carried out.
The IPCC deals with complaints against police in England and Wales and considers appeals made by members of the public over their investigations.
Among the allegations by the group of lawyers, is that investigations supervised by the IPCC are not being overseen by people with enough experience and seniority.
It said the investigators found it difficult to challenge the conclusions produced by officers from a force that is the subject of an official complaint - a type of investigation that makes up the vast majority of IPCC work.
There are also concerns about the IPCC's own investigations, although it is accepted there are examples of high standards.
In addition, there is criticism of the leadership of the IPCC for failing to address these issues.
In response, the IPCC said many of the complaints referred to were "legacy" cases inherited from its predecessor, the Police Complaints Authority.
End criticism
Nick Hardwick, IPCC chair, said: "We do not accept the criticism of our caseworkers and investigators. They are trained and experienced and their work is overseen by commissioners who cannot by law have worked for the police.
"But of course the IPCC does not always get it right and we constantly try to improve."
He said that the IPCC remained ready to speak to the PALG as a stakeholder, but that it would defend its independence and impartiality.
The IPCC was set up to end criticism of the investigation of complaints about police behaviour.
It is also responsible for the way serious complaints against members of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Border & Immigration Agency are dealt with.
Lawyers representing people who have brought cases against the police have withdrawn from an advisory group to the police complaints panel.
The Police Action Lawyers' Group says it is concerned about allegations over investigations at the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
It says inquiries are being run by people without sufficient seniority.
However, the IPCC said the complaints were not representative of the majority of the work it carried out.
The IPCC deals with complaints against police in England and Wales and considers appeals made by members of the public over their investigations.
Among the allegations by the group of lawyers, is that investigations supervised by the IPCC are not being overseen by people with enough experience and seniority.
It said the investigators found it difficult to challenge the conclusions produced by officers from a force that is the subject of an official complaint - a type of investigation that makes up the vast majority of IPCC work.
There are also concerns about the IPCC's own investigations, although it is accepted there are examples of high standards.
In addition, there is criticism of the leadership of the IPCC for failing to address these issues.
In response, the IPCC said many of the complaints referred to were "legacy" cases inherited from its predecessor, the Police Complaints Authority.
End criticism
Nick Hardwick, IPCC chair, said: "We do not accept the criticism of our caseworkers and investigators. They are trained and experienced and their work is overseen by commissioners who cannot by law have worked for the police.
"But of course the IPCC does not always get it right and we constantly try to improve."
He said that the IPCC remained ready to speak to the PALG as a stakeholder, but that it would defend its independence and impartiality.
The IPCC was set up to end criticism of the investigation of complaints about police behaviour.
It is also responsible for the way serious complaints against members of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Border & Immigration Agency are dealt with.
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