§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if 301W he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT details of the criteria and procedures under which, in exceptional cases, complaints against the Metropolitan Police are allowed to be conducted by officers of the same division as that of the defendant officers.
§ Dr. SummerskillUnless a complaint is dealt with centrally by A10 Branch, the commander in charge of the division concerned appoints an investigating officer who is not in the same chain of command as the officer who is the subject of the complaint and has not recently served closely with him. Usually the investigating officer is from the same division as the officer complained of, but from a different sub-division. In the Metropolitan Police the sub-division is the equivalent of a division in other forces.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints were made against the Metropolitan Police in 1971, 1972 and 1973; how many of these were investigated by officers from divisions other than those of the defendant officers; and how many by those of the same division.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe only information readily available is as follows:
Complaints on which action was completed Number of such complaints dealt with by A10 Branch 1971 4,314 — 1972 5,564 254 1973 5,869 736 A10 Branch became operative on 1st June 1972. The information requested about investigating officers appointed otherwise than from A10 Branch could not be obtained without disproportionate effort.