Justice Davis: 2,726 complaints outstanding

Just half of one percent of complaints against police officers made by the public last year were investigated, revealed the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) Sixth Annual Report (2001 to 2002) laid in the House of Representatives yesterday.

PCA chairman, Justice Jim Davis, bemoaned, “The question is ‘How do we get out of this morass?’” He said the PCA, which is supposedly independent under the national Constitution, was being “strangled” by the inability of the Police Service’s Complaints Division to investigate forwarded complaints. Davis stated: “In the Authority’s three previous reports the most critical concern expressed was the inability of the Complaints Division to investigate and report on complaints expeditiously. The statistics of this reporting year reflect an unacceptable situation that has literally strangled the operations of the Authority...”

The Report revealed that as against 2,103 complaints received in 2001- 2002, the Complaints Division had investigated and reported on just 112 complaints. Justice Davis said: “The large number of outstanding complaints (from all years), 2,726, indicates how endemic the problem of tardy investigation/resolution of matters has become. “Even more telling is the number of complainants who continue to actively pursue their complaints and therefore visit the office frequently seeking some form of relief. There were 900 such visits for the year under review. Hamstrung by legislation, the Authority feels frustrated at times.” He concluded: “The answer lies in amendment to the existing legislation to permit the Authority not merely to receive complaints and monitor/ensure that investigations are conducted thoroughly and impartially, but to investigate all complaints thoroughly and independently.”