We take complaints very seriously and we want to make sure that the service we provide to communities is professional, effective and efficient. The Police and Crime Commissioner works with the Chief Constable and the police to make sure that the service provided to our communities is of the highest standard.
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner does not handle complaints against officers, police staff, or about the service provided by Devon & Cornwall Police. Complaints of this manner must be made to Devon & Cornwall Police directly. You can find out more information here.
This does not include complaints against the Chief Constable. The Police and Crime Commissioner has a statutory responsibility to handle complaints against the Chief Constable. If you would like to raise a complaint about the Chief Constable, you can find more information here.
Although not involved in the handling of most police complaints, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner undertakes complaint reviews when the public are dissatisfied with the outcome of how their complaint was handled by Devon &” Cornwall Police. You can find out more information about requesting a Police Complaint Review here.
The Police and Commissioner regularly scrutinises Devon & Cornwall Police’s management of complaints through formal meetings, including the Commissioner’s Accountability Board and the Police Conduct Oversight Board. The Commissioner also considers data on Devon & Cornwall Police’s performance, including though quarterly statistics which are published by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), and internal data produced by Devon & Cornwall Police. Upon review of this information, the Commissioner produces an annual assessment on the police’s complaint handling.
We recognise there will be times when people feel dissatisfied with the service they have received from the police. We understand that making a complaint may be intimidating for some people. We also recognise that an individual’s specific needs or circumstances may impact on their confidence and ability to make a complaint.
We will do our best to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to remove barriers that might prevent any of the communities we serve from engaging with us, and with the complaints systems. Please let us know if you require us to make adjustments to our procedures to enable you to access our services, or if you have any observations about how we may improve access to our services.
To get help with a complaint, please click through the options below. You can also find more information using the drop-down boxes.
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When making any complaint, whether to Devon & Cornwall Police, or our office, please include as much detail as possible about what happened:
- What was said or done and by whom?
- Were there witnesses or evidence such as documents or photographs?
- The names of any staff concerned
- What you would like us to do
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A young person under 16 should not normally need to provide written permission for a parent, guardian or advocate (for example, a teacher or social worker) to make a complaint on his or her behalf.
Young people under the age of 16 are able to give valid consent (and refuse parental involvement) provided they have sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable them to understand fully what is proposed.
We will help to ensure that a young person understands the process and the potential outcomes when making a complaint. Support will be provided to young people not only in their initial access to the complaints system, but throughout the handling of their complaint – for example, ensuring that they understand the local resolution process or providing them with appropriate support should they need to give evidence at criminal or disciplinary proceeding.
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When this office receives a complaint or expression of dissatisfaction from a member of the public about Devon and Cornwall Police, its officers or staff, it will be necessary for us to refer the matter to the Devon and Cornwall Police. This is because complaints or expressions of dissatisfaction about the police must be handled by the police themselves. We will refer the matter to the appropriate team within the police force who will look into your concerns and respond to you directly.
If you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else, you will need to provide the police with that person’s permission to act on their behalf.
You should send your complaint or expression of dissatisfaction directly to Devon & Cornwall Police, more information can be found here.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) provides more information about how to make a police complaint, what happens after you make a complaint and how to appeal about the way the police handled your complaint.
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Complaints about a member of our staff (or a contractor or volunteer working for our office), or any of our policies or working practices, can be made to the Chief Executive (Monitoring Officer) by:
- Using our contact form
- Writing to the Chief Executive, Andy Hocking House, Alderson Drive, Exeter, EX2 7RP;
- Phoning 01392 497700
If your complaint is about the Chief Executive you may direct your complaint to the Treasurer, using the above contact methods.
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The way in which complaints about a Chief Constable (or Acting Chief Constable) are dealt with is described in legislation and there are different options for handling the complaint depending on its nature.
Unless the subject matter of the complaint has been, or is already being, dealt with by means of criminal proceedings, the complaint may be determined either by the Police and Crime Commissioner, or the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
We hope to be able to resolve your complaint quickly to your satisfaction. Complaints handled in this way are likely to be ones where you want an explanation, or for your concerns to be listened to, passed on, and addressed and you agree that these steps are sufficient to remedy the matter to your satisfaction. Complaints that require further investigation are likely to qualify for handling under legislation concerning police complaints and police misconduct (the Police Reform Act 2002, Schedule 3).
Such complaints will be ‘recorded’, and we are required to notify you when we do this. Recording a complaint means that it has formal status under the Police Reform Act 2002. Recorded complaints will either be handled by us, or by IOPC, depending on the matter under complaint. The way in which the complaint is handled must be reasonable and proportionate to the matter in question.
Depending on the circumstances, this may mean:
- an investigation of the matter
- seeking to resolving your concerns in another way
- on occasion, informing you that no further action will be taken.
It must then be dealt with according to formal rules and guidance. If we do not record your complaint, and you are dissatisfied with our decision, you can appeal to the IOPC.
We are required to refer all qualifying complaints about the Chief Constable to the IOPC who will decide whether the matter should be investigated. We will notify you when we make such a referral.
A complaint that will be referred to the IOPC is likely to be one that:
Where the conduct alleged, if it were proved
- could justify the bringing of criminal or disciplinary proceedings.
- involved the infringement of a person’s Human Rights
or alleges
- serious assault, or sexual offence
- serious corruption
- discriminatory behaviour on the grounds of a person’s status under the Equality, Diversity and Human Rights legislation
or
- the matter complained about resulted in death or serious injury.
- the gravity of the subject matter is considered to warrant referral.
If we are not the appropriate body to deal with your complaint, we are required to send it to the appropriate body and we are not required to seek your consent to do this. We will inform you that we have done this, the content of what has been sent and the name of the body it has been sent to. For example, this will be the case where a complaint names the Chief Constable but the complaint is about something where the Chief Constable has delegated the responsibility to another officer or staff member within the police force. In this example, we will send the complaint to the police force to handle.
You can make a complaint about the Chief Constable of Devon & Cornwall Police by:
- Using our contact form
- Completing and returning the complaint form(by email or post)
- Writing to the Police and Crime Commissioner, Andy Hocking House, Alderson Drive, Exeter, EX2 7RP
- Phoning 01392 497700
Further information about the complaint handling process and customer service standards can be found here.
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The Police and Crime Commissioner is directly elected by the public and therefore will be held to account, not only on election day, but every day by local people, groups and communities.
The Police and Crime Panel comprises independent members and members from local authorities – support the Commissioner, but as a ‘critical friend’. The Police and Crime Panel also scrutinises the Commissioner’s conduct and work on behalf of the public.
The Commissioner is a representative of the community and must conduct themselves in a way that does not discredit their office. The Commissioner is subject to a Code of Conduct which sets out the expected standards of personal conduct and ethical standards of behaviour.
Complaints can be made against the Commissioner if it is felt that they have breached the Code of Conduct. For transparency, complaints against the Commissioner are reported publicly at Police and Crime Panel meetings. To understand the number of complaints made against the Commissioner, please visit the Police and Crime Panel’s website where you will find the number of complaints considered at each meeting.If you have a complaint that the Commissioner has breached their Code of Conduct then the appropriate authority to handle your complaint is the Police and Crime Panel, however, initially you should send your complaint to the Chief Executive in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner who will carry out the initial stages of processing your complaint, and will liaise with the Police and Crime Panel as appropriate. We aim to respond to you with a recording decision within 10 working days and to try to resolve the matter to your satisfaction within 20 working days.
If your complaint alleges a criminal offence, we will refer it to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to handle.
Further information about the complaint handling process and service standards can be found here.
Complaints about the Police and Crime Commissioner can be made to the Chief Executive by:
- Writing to the Chief Executive, Andy Hocking House, Alderson Drive, Exeter, EX2 7RP
- Using our contact form
- Phoning 01392 497700
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If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint about the police, and your complaint has been handled under legislation concerning police complaints and police misconduct (the Police Reform Act 2002, Schedule 3), you may request a review.
A review of your complaint is not merely a quality check of what has happened, it offers the opportunity to consider whether the complaint outcome is reasonable and proportionate, and if not, to put things right.
The types of things a review process will consider include:
- Whether any findings, determinations or the outcome to the complaint were reasonable and proportionate to the circumstances of the complaint.
- Whether any actions proposed were reasonable and proportionate
- Whether the process and method used to handle your complaint was reasonable and proportionate
- Whether you were provided with sufficient information during the process, and about the outcome of your complaint.
The appropriate organisation to undertake a review of your complaint will be specified in your complaint outcome letter.
If your complaint has been referred to the Independent Office for Police conduct, or is about the conduct of a senior police officer (including the Chief Constable), or the conduct complained about would justify criminal or disciplinary proceedings, the Independent Office for Police Conduct will undertake the review. If your complaint relates to any other police officer or service provided by the police, we will undertake the review.
There is no right to apply for a review of the outcome of your complaint, if it has been investigated by, or an investigation has been overseen by, the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
There are timescales within which a review must be received, the detail of which will be included in your outcome letter. If your request is out of time, it may still be considered in special circumstances.
If your request for a review is not valid, we will write to you and inform you and provide the reasons why it is invalid. If you would prefer us to communicate this to you by other means, as well as in writing, we will do our best to accommodate your needs.
For complaint reviews where we are the appropriate authority, you can request a review by:
- Completing and returning the police complaint review form (by email or post)
- Completing the feedback form at the bottom of this page
- Writing to the Complaints Review Officer, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Andy Hocking House, Alderson Drive, Exeter, EX2 7RP
- Phoning 01392 497700
Further information about the police complaint review process and customer service standards can be found here.
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The Commissioner always welcomes and encourages feedback as it is an important element of understanding how we can improve our service.
As such, we hope you are happy with the way our office deals with you and if so we would welcome you to tell us when you are. You can contact the Commissioner by:
- Using our contact form
- Writing to Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Alderson Drive, Exeter, EX2 7RP