You Have a Voice
05 September 2024
"As the police watchdog we are independent of the police. Through our work, we hold the police to account when things go wrong, recommend changes to prevent the same mistakes happening again and promote high standards of policing. We use our evidence to drive improvements in police practices for the benefit of the public and the police. This will help achieve our vision for everyone to be able to have trust and confidence in policing.
Some women and girls do not have a good experience when reporting what has happened to them to the police, the police complaints system and the criminal justice system more widely. This campaign highlights the right to make a complaint, what can be complained about (something experienced or witnessed) and the steps involved in making a complaint.
We have sought the views of academics, professionals, organisations and advocates within the VAWG sector to develop this campaign, and we encourage you to actively share and promote the information where you can, including with your service users and networks where appropriate, and display materials in suitable spaces.
On the IOPC website you will find more information on the campaign, with digital versions of the posters, leaflets and business cards, that can be printed or shared electronically. We have also produced a digital guide for organisations to refer to when supporting or advising someone on the police complaints system, to give more details on the specific role of an advocate through this process.
We would also encourage police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners, and parliamentarians, to support this campaign nationally and locally, to help women and girls understand their rights in the police complaints system, so that they feel confident and have trust in the system should they need to use it. Please share this information with the professionals you work alongside in multi-agency settings, such as with Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs), Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs), and others in supporting roles. You may also wish to promote the campaign on your ‘how to complain’ web pages, or any other places you think would be appropriate.
I would like to express my special thanks to the organisations and people working to tackle violence against women and girls who have worked in collaboration with us to develop the “You Have a Voice” campaign.
I would also like to thank the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and the Office of the Victim’s Commissioner for their support.
I hope you agree that raising awareness of the complaints system is an essential part of building trust and confidence in policing.
You may be interested to know that over the coming months we will publish our Super-complaint on the police response to stalking - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and also plan to circulate the outcome of work with police forces on improving the response to police perpetrated domestic abuse. In addition, we will publish our work on improving policing practice and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing and the police complaints system on matters involving discrimination. This comprises our summary report, revisions to discrimination guidelines and a discrimination toolkit for complaint handlers and reviewers in the Professional Standards Department."
Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)
https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/you-have-voice-our-campaign-help-women-and-girls-be-heard