To ask whether anyone has made a complaint about police and had a positive outcome?

[Chinchinatti]

I've made a complaint against police and bodycams were not turned on for the first half of the encounter (I was not aware of this until I made the complaint). It's now with the Professional Standards something or another but they're very very slow to act. Last I heard was two weeks ago and I emailed yesterday and was informed this morning that I will receive an update every 28 days. Is this bloody acceptable?

As for police officers not being one homogenous group, no matter whether you work for Asda, Tescos, Halifax, B&Q or the Royal Family you must know that when you are 'on the job', you ARE in fact a representative of the force or company that you work for. In that respect, one bad encounter can sully your view of a company and one positive encounter can make you loyal to a company. People get an impression of the overall company/force in this case, based on individual encounters. So saying that they're all individuals is neither here nor there.

I have. The police will ultimately close ranks and look after themselves. We did eventually get convictions but I'll be honest, it ruined my life. Don't hold out much hope for professional standards

Sorry, just reading back as I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my unfortunately rather vague question. I know MN likes details lol.

Fromthebirdsnest Well done you for standing up for the homeless person. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that a homeless person would have either the means or the inclination to make a complaint themselves, so it was brave of you to get involved. Sorry to hear of your ordeal, but I now realise that it is a time consuming process I guess.

WhoCaresAnyway95 Apt username given your circumstances lol. I'd just proceed as if you are allowed to return I guess!

User57327259 Yes, my concern now is that I will be flagged up on their system if I ever have any future dealings with police. I've no idea whether the average bobby can see whether you've previously made a complaint or not. Curious to know actually.

Elieza and others on the same vein - yes, that is my concern, that it will in fact result in absolutely the sum total of nothing in terms of outcome.

Yes, I fear they will close ranks. Look, what's done is done and I've done my bit by making a complaint both for myself and for others who may have to encounter these officers themselves.

AmNot Scary stats there. I don't know why I even bothered complaining - I really don't expect a positive outcome and on the contrary, feel that it will leave me on the wrong foot for any future encounters with the police, but I have an innate sense of justice and was angry.

Also - wrt the bad apples - only one bad apple can rot the whole barrel.

Dione - this isn't the type of complaint that would go to a court, but I'm glad to hear that justice is done at times.

Apologies if I've missed responding to some of you, but I think I've answered as much as I could. Thanks for the responses - a mixed response I guess!

No, you will not be flagged up on any “system”. There is no system which would provide that information to officers. Not that your average officer on the beat would care enough to make life difficult anyway (although I await posters to shout “yes they do!!”). We don’t. We really really don’t care that you made a complaint about an officer.

Word gets around though Nicknacky…

Trust me, they don’t care. We get complaints every day, we wouldn’t get any work done if we were busy making trouble for them.

You asked the question, that’s the answer.

And Nicknacky, I appreciate that you're a police officer so wish to protect your profession, but sometimes you have to accept that they are not all above reproach. You're quite defensive, which isn't exactly confidence inspiring.

Trust me, they don't care

Lol, that's the fucking problem.

I made a complaint about a couple of ways in which the police dealt with me reporting my abusive ex to them.

They said it was too late to complain about it and refused to acknowledge it. Even though I'd never received a report of the outcome at the time, so I didn't know about it until it was included in family court papers.

I obviously couldn't complain then, as I was embroiled in that, so it wasn't until I was sorting out the paperwork after the case ended that I did it (which would have been within the allowed time if they'd started the clock from when I had the police report).

To all those bashing police, if you want to change something, you change it from the inside.

You are all more than welcome to volunteer as special constables and see life from the other side.

Never judge until you have walked in someone else's shoes. It will be eye opening for you

Op, ok clearly you didn’t want answers from someone with many many years in the police and one who is so straight down the line that I’ve given evidence at a misconduct hearing which resulted in the officer being required to resign. Oh, and he was reported by his colleagues.

I will leave you to it. Good luck.

Anyway, I have spoken to you on more than a few anti-police threads and I don’t expect anything I say to change your opinion so I won’t try

And whenever I have had the opportunity, I've noted the difficult job the police do, and the dangers of anarchy without.

But that's not a free pass to go around being the worst police you can be as some think it should be. At least in my opinion. It's a very good reason why we should hold the police to account, and to a high standard.

Rosie that's pretty shit. I think I vaguely recall reading that you've either 6 months or a year or something to make a complaint (can't remember now).

Glad your ex is now your EX!

No, you will not be flagged up on any “system”. There is no system which would provide that information to officers.

Whatever happened to all that "soft intelligence" that's supposed to go into enhanced DBS checks from the PND ?

A long time ago yes, I was incorrectly identified as someone who had a arrest warrant out on them a PC wouldn't listen to me as I was attempting to get my ID from my purse, completely overreacted cuffed me aggressively and broke a bone in my wrist. I was resisting because as you could imagine I was adamant I was in the right, I'm not that person.

I was then left cuffed with hands behind me back whilst they searched my bag and discovered I was not the person they were after. I was then apologised to and "supported kindly" to a and e.

I obviously made a complaint, and in all honesty it was dealt with very well and in a timely manner. Many apologies and compensation was given much to my surprise.

This incident hasn't tarred my view of the police however, who I work with now as a multi agency partnership. It was one crazy heavy handed officer. They are few and far between and in the last decade have vastly improved in their communication and restraint procedures such as cuffing Infront not behind unless absolutely necessary.

Nicknacky, I'm not picking a fight with you. Well done for speaking up. I appreciate that must have been difficult. Just don't think that every mention negatively about police is a personal attack on you. It's not. As I've said, 95% of my encounters with police have been positive. One even went so far as to write down a recommendation for a hair product for me - long story - don't ask - (and he was a man lol!).

I've had about 5 incidents with the UK police where they behaved badly. Never once was I committing a crime or with someone committing a crime. I have never bothered to report as have no faith in them. I have not had one good encounter.

One incident sticks out where they told my ex they were 'the biggest baddest gang in London'

Numerous racist incidents.

Being bullied and accused and threatened with arrest when I had called to report a crime.

Lying to my face at a road accident. My insurance company sued them and police settled out of court.

I cannot think of one single positive incident. I am white MC female for what it's worth.

I made a complaint about a police man and the police were fantastic at dealing with it

NotNowPlzz If that was my experience, I would find it difficult not to despise them as a group. Thankfully, most of my experiences with them have been positive. I've even had banter with some of them e.g. telling one of them 'well you'll never make detective, will you' when he asked me a question to which the answer should have been obvious. We laughed and had some craic together with his comrade who was telling me all about his Irish heritage. I'm glad that my experiences with them have been positive on the whole.

I've had another one escalate a complaint to another organisation on my behalf as he himself had the same experience as I had in dealing with them. He was so annoyed.

I suppose, half the time they're dealing with people who are lying, so they're cynical - perhaps it goes with the job.

I didn't make the complaint on a whim - I strongly believe that they acted extremely badly (potentially endangering my life, or in different circumstances, ensuring the end of my life).

WobblingMyWigglyBits Can I ask what was the outcome? An apology?

Professor I have no idea, I don’t work within the intelligence world. It’s a specific department that deals with that.

However I don’t doubt that Professional Standards (or whatever the equivalent is that forces call them) have systems that record complaints including complainer details and the officers, that goes without saying. However this will be heavily restricted and bog standard officers will have no way of accessing them.

[Whatever happened to all that "soft intelligence" that's supposed to go into enhanced DBS checks from the PND ?]

Professor I have no idea, I don’t work within the intelligence world. It’s a specific department that deals with that.

And yet you stated:

No, you will not be flagged up on any “system”. There is no system which would provide that information to officers

So which is it ?

Some might see me as being overly annoying. But others might recognise how police "chats" can go ...

Professor There is no system that ordinary, uniformed (or plain clothed) officers can access which provides details of complaints against the police.

Please don’t try and imply you are somehow catching me out. You aren’t.

Yes, on someone else's behalf for a caution that shouldn't have been issued. The sergeant was rude and patronising when I spoke to him. The internal complaints department were excellent, and dealt with the complaint really proactively. Caution rescinded and police officers who dealt with it faced disciplinary action, and the sergeant. Felt like calling him back up and saying 'see, you can rescind a caution, love'

Nicknacky, I presume and I am presuming what Professor is alluding to is that word would get around a station about an arsehole who made a complaint about you. As they say, a secret between 2 people remains a secret if one of them is dead. I would assume that officers confide in each other, so that's why I worry that my card is marked so to speak. That and the fact that I requested a copy of my police file under GDPR and there were some strange things at the top of it, which made no sense to me, but I presume that 'intel' would be freely available to any bobby.