UK: PCA "concerned" at..
01 May 1998
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA), in its thirteenth annual report covering 1997-1998, recorded 18,354 complaints, down from the record 19,953 of the previous year. Created as part of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, after widespread concern over the manner in which complaints against the police had been mishandled, the PCA's remit is to oversee complaints received from the public and a few serious complaints from the police. Despite early, misleading attempts to laud its "independence", the PCA appoints a police officer to investigate its cases. It also reports directly to the deputy chief constable of the police force concerned who decides whether a case will be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Authority was effectively ignored by the public in its early years and less than 2,000 cases were referred to it directly according to figures in the latest report. The problem is even greater among "the minority communities, both minority ethnic communities and other minorities such as the gay community.":
Firstly, [they have] a fear of attitude. Many of their complaints arise from what they perceive, rightly or wrongly, to be a hostile or discriminatory attitude when they come face-to-face with officers in the course of the officer's duty. That may be a stop-and-search in the street. It may be a vehicle stop but nonetheless there is resentment at what appears to be a discriminatory or harassing attitude, and as a consequence they fear that if they make their complaint at a police station they will experience, at that station, the same attitude that they have experienced on the street. Secondly, they fear retaliation - either from the officer against whom they complain or colleagues of the officer.
Their latest report emphasises the "prominent" number of male police officers who prey on vulnerable female members of the public, women officers and support staff. The Authority dealt with 73 sexual harassment complaints which only resulted in nine punishments. In his Introduction, Chairman, Peter Moorhouse, described police harassment of members of vulnerable members of the public as "an almost absolute abuse of authority." The report went on to highlight a number of cases, including one where a police officer indecently assaulted several women while they were held in police cells and another where a 14-year old girl had been subjected to an improper search in a public place.
The most disturbing complaints came from women whose vulnerability has been exploited by police officers to whom they had turned for help. In some cases, officers had formed sexual relationships with the victims of domestic violence. In others, women complaining of harassment had sought police protection only to suffer the same treatment from the officer supposed to be assisting them.
Women police officers alleged harassment at police stations, in police vehicles, during training courses and even while carrying out surveillance operations.
The report observed that: "Allegations of sexual harassment by police officers have been the subject of a growing number of cases dealt with...over recent years." Many of these complaints were made against officers in specialist squads. In a comment, that is not lacking in irony, PCA Chairman, Peter Moorhouse remarked that there was little point in issuing "mission statements" if police culture had not changed. He was supported by his deputy chairman, John Cartwright, who said that it was not enough to have an equal opportunities policy that was never applied and a grievance procedure that was never used.
Commenting on the 56 deaths (six of whom were black people) in police custody the report noted that "there is no doubt that a number of the 56 people who died in police custody last year should still be alive." The report calls for improved training for both custody officers and police surgeons. The police use of informers and the use of CS spray also created cause