§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether he will publish in the Official Report the costs for internal police disciplinary proceedings, showing the wages of suspended officers, cost of wages and salaries of investigating officers and the estimated cost of loss of productivity of the officers either under suspicion or conducting investigations, excluding the Metropolitan Police force and the City of London force, for the past five years;
(2) whether he will publish in the Official Report, by individual police forces but excluding the Metropolitan Police Force and the City of London Police Force, the number of police officers at present under suspension, who are (a) awaiting internal disciplinary proceedings, (b) awaiting trial for alleged criminal offences, (c) at present under investigation in connection with possible criminal or disciplinary proceedings and (d) who have been acquitted in criminal proceedings or have been found to have no case to answer but are awaiting disciplinary proceedings under regulation 7; and what were the appropriate figures for the past five years.
§ Mr. MayhewI regret that this information is not readily available.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, excluding the Metropolitan Police force and the City of London force, he will give the number of cases involving criminal investigation of serving police officers which were conducted by (a) officers of the same police division, (b) officers of the same force but from separate divisions and (c) officers from other forces, over the past five years.
§ Mr. MayhewUnder the Police (Discipline) Regulations an officer appointed to investigate an alleged criminal or disciplinary offence by another police officer must be from a different division or branch from that of the officer under investigation. Information is not readily available about cases arising from an internal report within the force. But in respect of criminal or disciplinary allegations from members of the public, the available information, for each of the years 1975 to 1979, excluding the Metropolitan and City of London forces, is as follows: 263W
Total no. of cases No. investigated by officers from the same force No. investigated by officers from another force 1975 N/A N/A 96 1976 N/A N/A 154 1977 N/A N/A 157 1978 11363 11267 96 1979 11369 11277 92
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the criteria governing an invitation to a member of an outside police force to investigate charges involving disciplinary or criminal matters against a serving officer of another police force.
§ Mr. MayhewParagraphs 4.11–4.15 of the Home Office guidance to chief officers on police complaints and discipline procedures, a copy of which is available in the Library, draw attention to the need to ensure that the investigation of a complaint should be clearly seen to be absolutely impartial. In considering whether to call in an investigating office from another force, the deputy chief constable is advised to take into account not only the seriousness of the allegations and the rank of the officer against whom they are made, but also the extent to which the incident giving rise to the complaint has been the subject of publicity.