Julia Mulligan: Breaking the cycle of bureaucracy in process of complaining about police

Sixty miles from home, Mary was loaded into the back of a police van and taken into custody. Eventually, after three months on bail, charges were never brought.

During this time, Sophie was removed from the care of her mother with devastating consequences.

This all happened to the most normal of families with no previous police interaction.

However, in the world of policing, events like this happen and we have all read about cases when the unimaginable proves to be true – Tory Minister Andrew Mitchell’s “Plebgate” battle being a case in point.

It is therefore vital that the police are empowered to do their job. 

Subsequent events, however, throw a whole new light on the Taylors’ experience.  

Deeply unhappy with the legitimacy of Mary’s arrest and the standard of the subsequent investigation, husband Mark submitted a complaint to North Yorkshire Police. 

Many months later Mark received the internal report prepared by the police’s own Professional Standards Department.

North Yorkshire Police has one of most highly respected and independently minded professional standards departments in the country, so my comments do not reflect their integrity and competence, rather the bias and complexity of the system itself. 

Mark contacted me in desperation. He had come up against a wall of bureaucracy; no one anywhere was listening to him. Mary’s health had suffered and Sophie’s progress had stalled.

When we met, it was clear that Mark was deeply frustrated. In addition, some of his actions had risked him being pigeon- holed as a difficult and persistent complainant when, what he wanted most of all, was a chance to be heard. He and Mary needed to be able to tell their story; to clear Mary’s name and for steps to be taken to ensure the same thing didn’t happen to anyone else.

My office negotiated a meeting between Professional Standards and Mark and Mary. It was tense but productive. The police were fair, professional and perhaps most importantly of all they understood the impact on the family. A dent had been made in the bureaucracy; a list of actions was agreed; real progress had been made.

Months later, Mark received the outcome of his appeal to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) – some of the most serious of his complaints had been upheld. However, Mark’s quest is not over; about to make his third appeal in two years, he is still waiting for answers.

The cynical amongst you might say that the IPPC had helped reveal the truth, which the police had failed to uncover. Mark and Mary tell me they feel the same way.

However I believe Professional Standards acted with integrity and followed the process to the letter. 

The real lessons to be drawn from the Taylors’ story show what’s wrong with the system, why it undermines trust in the police and demonstrates the case for change.

In the first instance, the system is virtually impenetrable to all but experts. This pits the public against the police, “doing battle” with one another, sometimes having to resort to expensive legal advice.

The next problem is that the system principally reflects the interests of the police rather than the public. It is largely focused on identifying officer misconduct rather than resolving problems for victims.

This makes reform very difficult because the police unions (in all but name) do everything they can to protect their members’ interests – after all, that’s their job and they are good at it.

Finally, truly independent investigations are reserved 
for all but the most serious 
cases.

I believe that all investigations into police complaints should be independent, unless agreed by the victim. Even then, there should be a right of appeal to a local independent body, rather than to the Chief Constable.

The solution should be innovative.

Passing everything to the IPCC won’t work because it would cost a fortune, impact 
on much needed local resources and cases could very well take forever.

Local police complaints need to be separated from local forces and the principle of independence embedded. The police must also embrace greater openness and transparency.

A new generation of police leaders is emerging who understand this modern imperative and a new code of ethics is being introduced by the College of Policing that will go some way to driving cultural change.

Locally elected police and crime commissioners have responsibilities too; they must be unequivocally on the side of the public and drive forward reform, whilst at the same time working constructively to hold the police to account.

However, above all else we need more people like Mary and Mark to tell their stories, so the “powers that be” understand real reform has to come from the bottom up, rather than the top down. 

The names given in this article have been changed as Mary, Sophie and Mark’s complaint is ongoing.

* Julia Mulligan is the police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire.