Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
injecting an element of independent challenge into the process. This should go
some way towards dealing with the criticisms that are made about DPS’ accountability.
7.106 In addition, it should provide a formal opportunity for informal resolution or
mediation to be considered. As the MBPA told us: “It is our experience that the longer a
case progresses, then so much greater is the danger of positions becoming so entrenched that
informal resolution becomes an impossibility.”
The investigation process – “Why do we treat our own people differently?”
7.107 We have received consistent criticisms about the investigation processes used
by DPS. These relate to a failure to progress an investigation, failure to adhere to the
level of professionalism that would apply to criminal investigations involving members
of the public, disproportionality of resources and failure to use policy files effectively.
7.108 The case of Mr CC is illustrative of many of the issues:
“Part of the problem I have found is the officers investigating complaints do not follow the
same guidelines that everybody else in the Metropolitan Police follows, in terms of criminal
investigations. As a detective myself, I am involved in criminal investigations now, and all of the
inquiries that we do we have to put on to a computer-based system, detailing every contact
we have with the witness, what we do during that contact with the witness, and making sure
that everything is there, disclosable and retrievable.
“Complaints branch officers do not investigate in this way, they make written records, and
there is no test to ensure that what they are writing is correct as to what they are actually
doing on a day-to-day basis, which is a problem that I encountered, insofar as some of the
witnesses were interviewed and there was not any note at all made that the officers had even
spoken to them.
“In my particular case, the main witness was spoken to two days after the original complaint;
no record was made anywhere, the first note being made some two months later, which
compromised my position, and would not be acceptable in any other criminal inquiry.
“With a complaints investigation, they do not disclose what they do, they withhold lots of
information, they actually – in my case, they withheld information that was very important to
my defence.” (Evidence of Mr CC.)
7.109 Mr CC is not alone in his criticism of the investigatory process. Other
criticisms include:
i. Poor investigatory practice:
“The threshold for proving complaints seems too high at the investigation stage and this
is compounded by the lack of proper investigation of sex/race discrimination complaints
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