Thin blue line
19 October 2010
By Sophie Khan
The commissioner's outdated attitudes to police accountability are part of the problem, not the solution, argues Sophie Khan
It was a surprise to read that Sir Paul Stephenson had written to the home secretary with his concerns over legal costs. He has failed to take on board the arguments that have been made time and time again by civil action against the police practitioners and civil liberties groups which link accountability to costs. Instead he has proposed in his confidential letter to Theresa May that he wishes to “make it harder for people to sue the police for damages in civil actions”.
This is a clear signal by the commissioner that he attaches no significance in redressing civil wrongs committed by police officers and that ‘accountability’ is a word that does not apply to the police. This outdated approach in dealing with an ongoing problem is one of the reasons why the police have lost the respect of their communities and are likened to a ‘gang in uniform’ rather than officers of the law.
The only solution
The proposals the commissioner should have put forward would be to recognise that accountability is the only solution to his desire to reduce costs and propose steps to bring about the level of accountability that will address the numerous allegations of police misconduct. At present it is only through civil actions that there is real accountability against these abuses and is the only platform where the evidence can be comprehensively tested and the wrong redressed.
In the absence of civil actions there would be no delivery of justice to those who have genuinely been wronged and as a society we would be allowing a two-tier system to operate for the police, which would be unfair and has no place in due process and the rule of law that we as British citizens value and cherish.
The commissioner could of course argue that public bodies such as the IPCC and the CPS are there to ensure such breaches, civil wrongs and criminal acts are addressed. However, it has only been a recent development by the CPS to prosecute more police officers and the looming cuts on the CPS which have already seen a freeze on recruitment could lead to a lack of resources rather than the will to prosecute more cases in the future.
One of the difficulties I have experienced with the IPCC is its reluctance to take a more direct approach against the police officers working in the Directorate Professional Standards and Professional Standards Board and face them head-on on complaints that have not been dealt with sufficiently and ones that should have been upheld.
No acknowledgement
This has been an ongoing issue for several years and to date has not been addressed and is unlikely to be addressed in the near future. The existing framework of accountability in my opinion is not working and is the cause of many of the civil actions that are subsequently brought by those same complainants as they are dissatisfied with the complaints procedure and feel that their grievances have not been acknowledged by the police.
The commissioner needs to take on board that police officers, like everyone else, have to be held accountable when procedure is not followed or when there is evidence that a civil wrong or criminal act has been committed. His attempt to circumvent the rule of law for his officers through the back door is not welcomed and will be strongly opposed. It also raises serious questions over his commitment and motivation to the new era of policing and whether the lessons of the last 30 years of police misconduct have had any impact on the police.
Postscript:
Sophie Khan is a solicitor specialising in actions against the police at Imran Khan & Partners. Contact: sophiek@ikandp.co.uk
http://www.solicitorsjournal.com/story.asp?storycode=17120&encCode=902488516BC2173923JTBS737226611
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