In a recent reply to a freedom of information request, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed some important information concerning its workforce. The total number of staff employed as at 31st March, 2021 was 1,013, a reduction of 19 from the previous year.. The total payroll cost was £53,950,000, an increase of £3,050,000 (6%) on theContinue reading “Watchdog now employs over 1,000 staff but less than 25% ex-police”
Category Archives: IOPC
GMP response to racism report ‘disappointing’ says watchdog
On 2nd August, 2021, Amanda Rowe, Regional Director for the Independent Office of Police Conduct, said that Greater Manchester Police’s recent report looking at issues of race equality provides some promising progress on policing and race, but also raises uncomfortable questions that all police forces need to be answering (read full report here). It wasContinue reading “GMP response to racism report ‘disappointing’ says watchdog”
Police forces still unwilling to confront institutional racism
A police watchdog has reported, four decades after the introduction of stop and search, that ‘no force fully understands the impact’. Police in England and Wales are unable to explain why their powers are still used disproportionately, and in many cases unlawfully, on suspects from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Her Majesty’s InspectorateContinue reading “Police forces still unwilling to confront institutional racism”
Watchdog clears police over M62 shooting
An investigation by the police watchdog into the shooting of a 28 year old Huddersfield man, after a hard stop on the M62 slip road at Ainley Top in January, 2017, has decided that no West Yorkshire Police officer committed a criminal offence or breached professional standards (writes Neil Wilby). Yassar Yaqub was a passenger in anContinue reading “Watchdog clears police over M62 shooting”
Inquest delayed over police anonymity arguments
Andrew Stephen Hall, a black man from Huddersfield, died in the town’s Royal Infirmary on 13th September, 2016. He was 43 years old and his admission to hospital followed an episode in West Yorkshire Police (WYP) custody at the local police station and an earlier visit to the Accident and Emergency Department (A & E)Continue reading “Inquest delayed over police anonymity arguments”
The two that got away?
In this, the first of a short series reviewing the past year, a second look is taken at two cases of miscreant police officers being shielded by senior management in their respective police forces. In August, a very powerful story was published on this website. The latest in a lengthy series of exclusives dating backContinue reading “The two that got away?”
Say one thing, do another
Earlier this month, a Liverpool Echo article announced that a Merseyside Police officer had been sacked for clearly using racist language during the stop and search of an Asian member of the public (read in full here). It resonated immediately, as the racist term used by the young, inexperienced constable (it was his first everContinue reading “Say one thing, do another”
Cover-up at all costs
There are many thousands of words written elsewhere on this website about the so-called ‘police watchdog’ in England and Wales, most recently here. Currently known as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), having previously existed as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (2004-2018), the Police Complaints Authority (1985-2004) and the Police Complaints Board (1977-1985). EachContinue reading “Cover-up at all costs”
We investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong
During this course of this week, details have emerged of three more sub-optimal North Yorkshire Police investigations. These add to a shocking catalogue over the past 10 years or so (read more here). Not burglaries or car break-ins, but deaths in two different rivers in the county, 12 years apart. Denying closure for bereaved familiesContinue reading “We investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong”
Even more rotten
On 21st August, 2020 an article was published on this website, headlined ‘Rotten to its Core‘ (read here). It referred to the actions of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in the eight years following the shooting of an unarmed man, Anthony Grainger, in a supermarket car park in Culcheth, Cheshire by a GMP armed response unit.Continue reading “Even more rotten”
Neil Wilby Media 