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Complaints and Reviews

The majority of Hampshire Constabulary officers and staff provide a high standard of service to the communities of Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton. However, there may be an occasion when a member of the public may feel dissatisfied with the service they have received and wish to make a complaint.

Hampshire Constabulary welcomes feedback from the public to help shape their service. If you are unhappy with the service you have received and wish to make a formal complaint, please complete the complaints form.

Complaints can also be made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), however these will automatically be passed to Hampshire Constabulary or the Police and Crime Commissioner for the initial stages of the process to be completed, unless there are exceptional circumstances that justify not passing it on.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner recognises that being the victim of crime or involved in the criminal justice process can leave some people feeling isolated, worried, confused or dissatisfied with the outcome. There are support organisations that can offer help and support.  Support Leaflet

Please click the dropdowns below for more information:

 

Your right to a review of the outcome of complaints made to Hampshire Constabulary

If you submitted a complaint to Hampshire Constabulary’s complaints system after 1 February 2020, have received a formal outcome of your complaint and wish to exercise your right to review, this will be to either the Police and Crime Commissioner or the IOPC. Your outcome letter will detail who the relevant review body is for your complaint.

For matters where the Police and Crime Commissioner is the relevant review body, you will need to submit your application within 28 calendar days from the day after the outcome letter was sent.

An independent review will be carried out and will consider whether the outcome of your complaint was reasonable and proportionate. It is not merely a quality check of what happened before. We will aim to complete your review in timely manner and provide an outcome within two months of receipt. At times, due to the volume of reviews and complexity of cases this timeframe may be exceeded. We will ensure any delay is kept to a minimum.

Please complete the online review form to submit your application. If you unable to complete the online form, you can download a hard copy to print and fill out instead.

For matters where the IOPC is the relevant review body, visit their website for more information about how to submit your application.

 

Making a complaint against the Chief Constable

The Police and Crime Commissioner is responsible for dealing with complaints directly relating to the actions, decisions or conduct of the Chief Constable.

If you wish to make a complaint against the Chief Constable’s personal involvement in a matter, please download the national complaints form, complete it and submit to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner via email or post.

Making a complaint against the Police and Crime Commissioner

Complaints against the Police and Crime Commissioner are handled by the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel. For information about their complaints process, please visit the Police and Crime Panel website.

Accessibility

If you require any adjustments to support you to make a review application or a complaint, please let us know. You can call us on 01962 871595.

Complaint performance

The Police and Crime Commissioner has a role in the police complaints system to increase independence and improve complaint handling by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary.

The Police and Crime Commissioner has statutory responsibility for

  • the local oversight of complaint handling by Hampshire Constabulary;
  • acting as an independent Review Body for some complaints that have been made through the formal complaints system of Hampshire Constabulary;
  • dealing with complaints made against the Chief Constable, a role known as the Appropriate Authority.

 

The Police and Crime Commissioner is responsible for holding the Chief Constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary to account for the performance of the police complaints system locally, and for assessing their own performance in carrying out the other complaint handling functions.

 

The Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) statutory guidance provides that all local policing bodies have certain duties in relation to the handling of complaints.  The Police and Crime Commissioner has elected to undertake the mandatory functions of Model 1 with responsibility for carrying out reviews in relation to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary.

 

The Police and Crime Commissioner is required to publish information under the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) (Amendment) Order. Under paragraph 7C – in relation to complaints concerning the police force maintained by the PCC (Electoral Local Policing Body):

 

7C A (i) The most recent quarterly data provided by the IOPC in relation to complaints concerning Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The report shows the statistics concerning the number, timeliness and outcome decisions of complaints received by the force.  https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/police-force/hampshire-constabulary

 

7C A (ii) The most recent annual statistics report provided by the Independent Office for Police Conduct in relation to complaints concerning Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The IOPC annual report provides statistics concerning the numbers and types of complaint, timeliness and how the complaints were dealt with. They also provide information about who complained and what the complaints were about.  https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/publications/police-complaints-statistics-england-and-wales-report-202223

 

7C B (i) (aa) The publication of a report indicating how the Police and Crime Commissioner has fulfilled its duty to hold the Chief constable to account for the exercise of the chief constable’s functions in relation to the handling of complaints

 

7C B (ii) An assessment by the Police and Crime Commissioner of its performance in exercising its functions as the relevant review body.

 

PCP Annual RRB report 2023

 

7C B (iii) The Police and Crime Commissioner has not given notice to the chief officer of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary that any function of the chief officer will be carried out by her office (Model 2 and 3).

Our report in response to the IOPC’s annual statistics report