Complaints against Sussex Police fall for first time

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Members of the Sussex Police Authority's Professional Standards Committee welcomed the quarterly report for April-June 2008 which shows that complaints were down by six per cent over the same quarter in 2007 '“ 281 against 299.

Of these, only fiveADVERTISEMENTwere substantiated, with 49 per cent being resolved locally and 37 withdrawn.

This follows a period of rising figures attributed mainly to a significant increase in the number of incidents dealt with by the Force and related arrests, increased public confidence in the complaints system and changes to the way that complaints are recorded '“ not least that the figures now include all police employees and not just officers.

Chief Superintendent Ken Probert, head of the Force's Professional Standards Department, said, "Since the introduction of the IPCC, police complaints statistics nationally have risen steadily from 15,885 to 29,998 in 2006/07, up 83 per cent over the period.

"We anticipate that the national figures for the year ended April 2008 will show a continued rise, which is reflected in Sussex.

"However, the fall that we have recorded in the first quarter of 2008/09 may well indicate that things are at least levelling out after the changes that have taken place over the last four years and we hope that the trend will continue.

"That said, we will not become complacent. We are reassured that people are coming forward to tell us when they believe that we have got it wrong and they should be reassured that if they are not happy with our answers there is a further independent appeal process through the IPCC. However, upheld complaint figures are really quite small '“ around 5 per cent."

John Mortimer, chairman of the Professional Standards Committee, said, "The Authority closely monitors complaints against Sussex Police and while we are aware that the increases we have been experiencing have been brought about by a number of factors, it is encouraging to see a fall, no matter how slight.

"Around three-quarters of complaints can be broadly linked to people whose contact with the police has been as a result of some form of criminal justice process and it is human nature that there will be a degree of discontent.

"It should also be noted that Sussex Police dealt with nearly a quarter-of-a-million incidents during the most recent report period and there was an average of only 1.24 complaints for every thousand of those incidents. Of those, only one in 20 was upheld."