§ Mr. Meacherasked the Attorney-General, in each of the last five years, how many complaints have been made against policemen on grounds, respectively, of assault, corruption, oppressive conduct or harassment, mishandling property, irregularity in relation to evidence, neglect of duty, incivility, irregularity in procedure, and traffic irregularity; in each case for each year how many were prosecuted and how many convicted; and what percentage the last two figures in each case represented of total complaints for that year under that heading.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI regret that the information is not available in the form requested.
I give below information regarding complaints against the police received by the Director of Public Prosecutions for each of the five years 1977 to 1981 inclusive.
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Road Traffic Act Offences Year Complaints Prosecutions As a per cent. of Complaints Convictions As a per cent. of Complaints 1977 4,442 903 20.33 768 17.29 1978 4,463 1,116 25.01 914 20.48 1979 4,497 1,052 23.39 887 19.72 1980 4,764 920 19.31 816 17.13 1981 4,704 Not yet available
Theft Year Complaints Prosecutions As a per cent. of Complaints Convictions As a per cent. of Complaints 1977 596 99 16.61 79 13.26 1978 565 79 13.98 63 11.15 1979 503 72 14.31 55 10.93 1980 516 55 10.66 35 6.78 1981 559 Not yet available
Conspiracy Offences (especially re Perjury and False Statements) Year Complaints Prosecutions As a per cent. of Complaints Convictions As a per cent. of Complaints 1977 448 7 1.56 4 0.89 1978 415 13 3.13 9 2.17 1979 426 17 3.99 14 3.29 1980 474 10 2.11 4 0.84 1981 317 Not yet available
Corruption Year Complaints Prosecutions As a per cent. of Complaints Convictions As a per cent. of Complaints 1977 112 5 4.46 4 3.57 1978 120 11 9.17 3 2.50 1979 93 1 1.08 1 1.08 1980 121 3 2.48 2 1.65 1981 116 Not yet available
Sexual Offences Year Complaints Prosecutions As a per cent. of Complaints Convictions As a per cent. of Complaints 1977 55 8 14.55 6 10.91 1978 64 11 17.19 7 10.94 1979 53 8 15.09 7 13.21 1980 73 9 12.33 5 6.85 1981 60 Not yet available
Other Offences (for example, Criminal Damage, Forgery and so on) Year Complaints Prosecutions As a per cent. of Complaints Convictions As a per cent. of Complaints 1977 527 7 1.33 7 1.33 1978 504 35 6.94 30 5.95 1979 657 52 7.91 44 6.70 1980 654 35 5.35 30 4.59 1981 607 Not yet available Note:
- (i) These figures refer to cases, and not to police officers unless one officer happens to be charged alone.
- (ii) cases are shown as convictions even if there is a conviction on only one count against just one officer, although there may be several defendents. Acquittals are registered as such only in the event of a total acquittal.