Police brutality- complaint - delayed until after criminal investigations

[ZahZahZabor]

My young adult autistic son was assaulted by police - 2 separate officers on 2 occasions in the same incident. Police now alleging he assaulted them - 7 witnesses have logged complaints either with 101 or IOPC as they saw the escalation and awful attack, and a long horrendous restraint, and a violent punch.
In my complaint I have stated disability discrimination, breach of human rights and acting in contrary to their own force's policies and the college of policing standards - there's also a complaint handling of him in custody (there almost 24 hours!) and interview.

We have had replies from the force's professional standards dept saying they will not deal with any complaints until after criminal investigations into my son or any potential court case have concluded.
I understand the reasons why - sub judice - potential to prejudice any criminal court case.

My question is - does anyone know if the officers' conduct, that we have accused of assault and discrimination, will be looked into before any of this is concluded??
Would they not be under disciplinary investigation as soon as allegations are made?
I understand that when a complaint is about disability discrimination the IOPC say it could weight the complaint more seriously.

Surely, these officers should not be able to carry on working with the public for months and months without any scrutiny and be able to potentially assault and discriminate other people especially vulnerable adults?

[curtisss]

In your case, since you have alleged that your son was assaulted and discriminated by the police, your complaint should be referred to the IOPC by the PSD. The IOPC has the power to direct the PSD to investigate your complaint in a certain way, or to take over the investigation itself. The IOPC can also suspend or restrict the officers involved from their duties, if there is a risk of harm to the public or interference with the investigation.

However, the PSD and the IOPC may not be able to start or continue the investigation of your complaint, if there is an ongoing criminal investigation or prosecution against your son or the officers. This is because the investigation of your complaint may affect the evidence or the outcome of the criminal case. The PSD and the IOPC will usually wait until the criminal case is concluded, before resuming the investigation of your complaint. uno online

Therefore, it is possible that the officers’ conduct will not be looked into until after the criminal case is resolved. This may take a long time, depending on the complexity and the progress of the case. However, you should be kept informed of the status of your complaint and the reasons for any delays by the PSD or the IOPC. You should also be given the opportunity to appeal the decision of the PSD or the IOPC, if you are unhappy with the way they handled your complaint.

[ZahZahZabor]

Thank you for your reply. I have only just seen this.
PSD told me they won't look at any complaints until after any criminal investigations/procedures are concluded.
They also said that the complaints don't meet the mandatory referral criteria' to the IOPC.
I contacted IOPC who said
"The appropriate authority is responsible for deciding whether or not a complaint should be referred to the IOPC.Please note, upon receipt of your emails, we contacted the PSD to establish if your complaint will be referred to the IOPC following the end of the complaint suspension. The PSD confirmed to us today, ## December 2023, that based on the allegations made, the complaint does not meet the referral criteria and as such will be handled by the PSD."

How can our complaints not meet the mandatory referral criteria??
I have trawled through statutory guidance - conduct that may, if found guilty, lead to criminal charges should be referred. There are also allegations of breaches of human rights and disability discrimination.

[des8]

You might like to contact Iain Gould (https://iaingould.co.uk/)

I don't know whether or not he will assist, but it must be worth a try

[ZahZahZabor]

You might like to contact Iain Gould (https://iaingould.co.uk/)

I don't know whether or not he will assist, but it must be worth a try

Thanks, I did contact him a couple months ago and he very kindly called me back. I emailed him the other week to ask about complaints and he replied that it's very easy for ### to own the complaint & for the IOPC to disown notwithstanding guidance. He encouraged me to contact my MP to hopefully put some political pressure on them. But MP is already involved and they said that the Chief Constable hasn't even replied to his email.

I feel totally helpless. My son is facing potential criminal conviction for something police caused. But firstly having to be dragged through crown court and having this hanging over his head for months if not years, but aggressive and violent officers don't have their conduct looked at for possible 18mos/2years and in the meantime are free to carry on and could do this to someone else. And the IOPC won't call the complaints in.