Police Complaints Review Support

The 2020 Police Regulations and associated primary legislation bring new challenges for the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC). There is now statutory oversight of the police complaints system for your force and also, a requirement to conduct reviews of police complaints.

In respect of the second new statutory responsibility, conducting reviews of police complaints, we know that OPCCs are considering how to best manage this. The new obligation brings challenges including managing unpredictable demand, having experienced and trained reviewers and maintaining service during periods of staff absence.

Reviews and Support

Sancus are able to provide two levels of support. We can provide a contracted service undertaking all your reviews and preparing the necessary paperwork. This will include an assessment of whether the outcome was reasonable and proportionate and any recommendations for further response.

Alternatively, if you plan to recruit a member of staff to fulfil the review function, we can provide short term cover to manage any absences due to leave or illness.

About Sancus

Sancus have established a reputation for carrying out thorough and independent review processes on behalf of Government bodies. We have completed, or are currently engaged in, thirty Domestic Homicide Reviews commissioned by Community Safety Partnerships throughout the country and reporting to the Home Office.

Sancus are also contracted by NHS England to carry out reviews of homicides where the offender was under NHS psychiatric care. We have completed, or are currently undertaking, nine of these major investigations. Both processes involve comprehensive reviews, preparation of reports and making recommendations. An integral part of the review is working with the families of the deceased to maintain, where possible, confidence in the system.

Security

All our reviewers have been vetted to the level required by individual Offices of Police and Crime Commissioners meaning that you can have complete confidence in our security. There are sufficient numbers of trained and vetted reviewers to ensure continuity of service whatever external factors may come into play.

Sancus have secure IT systems to ensure security of data. We carry professional indemnity and public liability insurance at levels commensurate with public sector procurement requirements

Quality and Experience

Reviewers engaged to complete Complaint Reviews on behalf of Police and Crime Commissioners are all experienced senior managers from a police professional standards background. They have been trained in the implementation of the new regulations to ensure consistency of service and are vetted to the required level for police information handling needs.

In keeping with our company standards they all take part in continuous professional development, and we have sufficient numbers of reviewers to ensure continuity of service whatever external factors may come into play.

The benefits

The benefits of making use of the new service to Police and Crime Commissioners are considerable;

Independence of decision making which will maintain public confidence in the review process
Cost will be predictable and entirely linked to the level of demand.
Cost effectiveness. There will be no need to create new staff posts to deal with the service
Consistency of decision making both locally and nationally. We will seek to ensure the same reviewer deals with all of the cases from an individual PCC
Quality management will be ongoing to again, maintain confidence in the process
Resilience. Sancus will ensure that reviews are delivered within time scales agreed in advance with OPCC’s, usually being within 21 days
The important question is how much does this service cost? We have a structure which ensures a value for money service delivering a high level of quality and expertise. There are also savings built in for larger volumes of cases

Standards of review

For ease of reference we have three standards of review;

STRAIGHTFORWARD. We believe this will cover more than 90% of cases to be reviewed.
ENHANCED. To cover more complex situations where the reviewer needs to seek a significant amount of further information from the PCC’s office. These will be relatively rare and will be identified at an early stage.
COMPLEX. A very rare situation which will be identified either by the OPCC or by Sancus before any work is commenced.

Contact

We offer a range of prices to cover the levels and standards of review to meet your requirements.

If we can assist further or you would be interested in discussing this service please do not hesitate to contact our lead on Professional Standards, Ian Kennedy at iankennedy@sancussolutions.co.uk