Complaining about police treatment

There are laws which state how such complaints must be handled, these are the:-

It is common for the police to try and manage complaints about the phone, explaining why the situation occurred, however, if you feel that the matter has not been dealt with fully you should complain.

If you contact the police directly to make a complaint they may refer you to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), however, the IOPC will only investigate appeals concerning complaints that have already been handled by the relevant force, as such you end up going round in circles. As such you should address the complaint to the complaints team at the relevant force itself. We always suggest sending this to a named individual, by recorded delivery. Once the police receive your formal complaint in writing they have 15 working days in which to record it and to send you a copy of the complaint record, how long the investigation itself will take will vary on the circumstance but a timescale of 9 months is not uncommon.

For information, the IOPC will only look into the complaint is about a senior officer who after review would be liable to criminal and/or misconduct proceedings, or involves serious matters such as a death or serious injury whilst in custody

If you do not know the names or identities of the officers involved you can make your complaint anyway. Just describe the officers and the time and place you encountered them. The force must make reasonable efforts to locate them and provide you with their names as part of your complaint record.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary:
professionalstandardsdepartment@avonandsomerset.police.uk

Bedfordshire Police:
comp@bedfordshire.pnn.police.uk

Cambridgeshire Constabulary:
crtcambs@cambs.pnn.police.uk

Cheshire Constabulary:
professional.standards@cheshire.pnn.police.uk

City of London Police:
psd_public@city-of-london.pnn.police.uk

Cleveland Police:
professionalstandardsdepartment@cleveland.pnn.police.uk

Cumbria Constabulary:
PSDAdmin@cumbria.police.uk

Derbyshire Constabulary:
PSDA@derbyshire.pnn.police.uk

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary:
Professional.Standards@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk

Dorset Police:
complaints&misconduct@dorset.pnn.police.uk

Durham Constabulary:
complaints@durham.pnn.police.uk

Dyfed Powys Police:
psd@dyfed-powys.pnn.police.uk