Police: Misconduct

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the length of time taken during police misconduct hearings.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 15th April 2021

It is very important that both misconduct investigations and disciplinary proceedings are dealt with in a timely manner.

The Home Office introduced new legislation in February 2020, which includes provisions to improve the timeliness of misconduct hearings. Greater powers for Legally Qualified Chairs (LQCs) allows them to better case manage hearings through the introduction of pre-hearings. This sets specified time limits for hearing dates to be fixed and ensures earlier management of disclosure, legal arguments and witnesses.

This legislation also includes provisions to improve the timeliness of investigations themselves, with specified action if an investigation is not completed within 12 months. This means that the investigating force, or Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), must put in writing to the Local Policing Body (or police force in the case of the IOPC) what progress it has made, why it hasn’t completed the investigation and what it proposes to do to conclude the investigation.

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