Making a Complaint about the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner

When a complaint is received the Panel will take the following three steps:

Step 1 - Initial assessment

Your complaint will be checked to see that it is about the conduct of the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

If your complaint relates to another police force area it will be passed to the Police and Crime Panel for that area.

If the complaint is about operational policing matters or the performance of the Cleveland Police or any of its officers it will be passed to Cleveland Police.

If the complaint is about the Chief Constable it will be passed to the PCC.

Step 2 - Recording your Complaint

If your complaint relates to the conduct of the PCC it will be recorded, unless the matter has been or is currently being dealt with by criminal proceedings.

If it is decided not to record your complaint, this will be explained. If it is recorded, you will normally be given a copy of the Record of Complaint.

Step 3 - Deciding how your complaint will be handled

Option A - Is it a serious complaint that should be passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)?

If your complaint alleges criminal conduct (or appears to involve a criminal offence that can be triable in England and Wales) it will be passed to the IPCC. The IPCC will then decide how to deal with your complaint.

Option B - Are there grounds to reject the complaint?

It may be decided to reject your complaint and take no action in the following circumstances:

a) the complaint is by a member of the PCC staff, arising from their work

b) the complaint is more than 12 months old where there is no good reason for the delay, or the delay would be likely to cause injustice

c) the complaint is about conduct that is already the subject of another complaint

d) the complaint is anonymous

e) the complaint is vexatious, oppressive or otherwise an abuse of process for dealing with complaints

f) the complaint is repetitious

If it is decided to take no action regarding your complaint you will be notified.

Option C - Has the complaint already been satisfactorily dealt with?

If it appears your complaint has already been satisfactorily dealt with by the time it comes to the Panel's attention, it may decide to take no further action.

Option D - Should the complaint be taken forward to Informal Resolution?

If your complaint has not been passed to the IPCC, rejected, or already been dealt with, it will usually be taken forward to informal resolution.