MOPAC complaints

You should contact the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

A complaint can be made about any matter which has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint (or, where the complaint is about the conduct if an individual, that they have witnessed or which happened to them).

Regulations require that you must submit your complaint to the MPS in the first instance.

To do this, you can either complain directly to the MPS or through the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). If you complain through the IOPC, it will automatically forward your complaint to the MPS for a recording decision.

If you are unable to use the online forms both can also be contacted by post at the following addresses:

MPS postal address:

Directorate of Professional Standards

Complaints Resolution Unit

1st Floor, Studland Block

40 – 42 Newlands Park

London

SE26 5NF

IOPC postal address:

Independent Office for Police Conduct

PO Box 473

Sale

M33 0BW

The MPS are required to refer some of the most serious complaint allegations to IOPC for it to consider. The IOPC will then determine whether to carry out an independent investigation themselves or hand the case back to the MPS.

Otherwise, the MPS will assess your complaint and contact you to seek your views about how it will be handled. It may be able to provide an explanation, apology, or other information to assure you that appropriate action is being taken.

The MPS may need to formally record your allegations under the provisions of Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002. If the complaint is recorded the MPS will then consider whether it is reasonable and proportionate to carry out an investigation into your complaint.

A complaint must be recorded under Schedule 3 and handled in accordance with the provisions of that Schedule, if at any point the person making the complaint wants it to be recorded.

Whichever way the MPS handles your complaint, it will write to you to tell you the outcome and explain whether you are entitled to request an independent review of the handling of the case.

If your complaint was recorded and you are unhappy about either how the MPS handled your complaint or the outcome it reached, you can apply for an independent review.

A review is an independent assessment of whether the MPS handling of a complaint was reasonable and proportionate. It will not encompass a re-investigation of the original allegations. The review process is designed to ensure that all complaints are handled in a fair, consistent, and transparent manner.

MOPAC became a Relevant Review Body for complaints about the MPS on 1 February 2020. The IOPC are also a Relevant Review Body. Should you wish to exercise your right to review the MPS will advise you which organisation to contact in the outcome letter that they will send to you when the investigation has been finalised.

MOPAC can only review your complaint against the MPS if:

• Your complaint was made on or after 1 February 2020.
• The MPS has completed its investigation into the complaint.
• You have been notified that MOPAC is the Relevant Review Body in the outcome letter sent to you.

When the MPS has finished looking at your complaint, it will send you an outcome letter. This will tell you whether you have a right of review, and which organisation it should be directed to. This may be the MOPAC or the IOPC.

There is no right to apply for a review of the outcome of a complaint that has been handled outside of Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002.

It is important that you send your request for review to the correct organisation. Please note you will only have 28 days from the date of your outcome letter to apply for a review.

If the Relevant Review Body is MOPAC and you wish to exercise your right of review, please contact the MOPAC Police Complaint Reviews Team by email.

When requesting a MOPAC review, please:

• Provide a copy of the outcome letter sent to you by the MPS.
• Explain why you are unhappy about how the MPS handled your complaint or the outcome it reached.

Find out more about submitting your application here.

MOPAC will consider if it is the Relevant Review Body for your review. Sometimes, we may feel that the complaint should be considered by a different organisation - such as the IOPC.

When considering your review, we will take into consideration why you are unhappy with the handling or outcome of your complaint – so it’s important that you explain why you are unhappy about how the MPS handled your complaint or the outcome it reached.

Once we have collected the information we need to review your complaint we will inform you if the review is valid, if we are the Relevant Review Body, and when we have started our review of your complaint.

We will then look at whether the complaint handling and outcome of your complaint was reasonable and proportionate, and provide you with an outcome letter explaining our thoughts. You can find out more about the work of the MOPAC Complaints Review Team (CRT) and latest performance data here.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has a statutory duty to secure and maintain public confidence in the police complaints system in England and Wales and to ensure that it is efficient and effective.

To find out more about how the IOPC aim to ensure the police are accountable for their actions and lessons are learnt you can visit their website.

Alternatively, you can visit the MPS website for further information about how the MPS handles complaints.

The Mayor of London is committed to ensuring that the MPS have in place a complaints system which brings about improvements in policing and ensures that there is a framework for organisational learning when something has gone wrong.

To find out more about how MOPAC maintain effective local oversight of the MPS complaints system, and latest performance data, please see here.

To further our understanding of the complainant experience, and pinpoint where improvements needed to be made, MOPAC worked alongside the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) in 2020/21 to carry out a survey of people who had complained over the previous 12-month period.

You can find out more about the background to that work and outcomes of the survey here.

The Police Reform Act 2002 states that where a complaint is made to a force or local policing body which is not the appropriate authority for the complaint, the body that has received the complaint must provide notification of the complaint to the appropriate authority.

This means that where appropriate, we have a legal requirement to pass details of your complaint to the relevant authority for the complaint.

There is no requirement in the Police Reform Act 2002 for us to obtain your consent when forwarding such complaints to the appropriate authority. However, if we do, we will inform you who we have forwarded the information to, and what information we have forwarded.

Otherwise, we will use any information that you provide in accordance with our privacy notice.

MOPAC is the Appropriate Authority that deals with complaints against the MPS Commissioner.

Should you wish to make a complaint about the individual conduct of the Commissioner please email MOPAC at [email protected]

The MPS Commissioner is accountable to MOPAC for the delivery of efficient and effective policing, management of resources and expenditure.

Expectations about the conduct of the Commissioner are set out in The Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 as the Standards of professional behaviour.

These expectations include requirements to:

• Act with Honesty and Integrity
• Treat members of the public and their colleagues with Respect and Courtesy
• Not abuse powers and authority
• Act with fairness and impartiality
• Act in a manner that does not discredit or undermine public confidence in the police service

If you feel that the Commissioner has not met these standards, you can make a complaint.

If you prefer, someone can make a complaint on your behalf, but you must give your permission in writing for them to do this.

The Mayor, as the Relevant Officer Holder of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime are subject to the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2012.

The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee has delegated its functions under these Regulations to the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Monitoring Officer.

We have a guidance document for how to make a complaint about the conduct of the Mayor as the Relevant Office Holder of MOPAC or the conduct of the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime.

If you wish to submit a comment or question about MOPAC, or are unhappy with the conduct of a member of MOPAC staff, please email [email protected] or write to us at:

The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, 169 Union Street, London SE1 0LL

We hope you have no reason to complain about the work of MOPAC: our customer service, policies or our staff. But, if you do feel unhappy please let us know and we will try to put things right.

Once your complaint has been received it will enter the three-stage MOPAC complaints process. If you are unhappy with our initial response you have the option of escalating your complaint further.

Stage 1

When the reasons for your complaint are clear and no detailed investigation is needed, we’ll speak to the member(s) of staff concerned to discuss your concerns. We will then try and get back to you quickly with any further information or an explanation.

Stage 2

Complaints about MOPAC staff requiring investigation will be passed onto the Head of Workforce and Professional Standards. They will seek to address your concerns with the individual or team(s) responsible, resolve any points of dispute or concern, and ensure that appropriate measures are taken to prevent a similar problem occurring in the future. We will inform you of the outcomes of any action taken following your complaint or give you guidance on how to progress your complaint if it is outside our control.

Stage 3

If you are unhappy with the response that you receive at Stage 2 you can request that your complaint be referred to the MOPAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who will further review the circumstances of your case. Again, you will be informed of the outcome of this investigation. The CEO will also advise you of any specific action taken as a result of your complaint.

We aim to deal with all correspondence and complaints equitably, but there will be occasions when individuals make unreasonable demands of MOPAC.

Our policy on dealing with abusive, persistent and vexatious correspondence and complaints outlines the circumstances when we may decline to investigate an item of correspondence or complaint.