Wiltshire Police is committed to providing a high standard of service.

However, there may be occasions when you feel dissatisfied with some aspects of the service. If you wish to make a complaint you can do so by complaining to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, who is responsible for holding the Chief Constable to account.

The Complaints Resolution team, in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, will assess your complaint and if possible try to resolve it with you. If the matter is more serious they will record the complaint and refer it to the Wiltshire Police Professional Standards department.

You can make a complaint directly to the OPCC, or submit a complaint to the Complaints | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Please note, if you complain via the IOPC, your complaint will be forwarded to the Complaints Resolution team in the OPCC to be dealt with.

Once your complaint is received, the Complaints Resolution team will log and assess your complaint and contact you about how it will be handled.

We are always looking to improve our services. If you have any suggestions as to how to improve the complaints service including this page, please use our website feedback form.

Make a complaint online

You can make a complaint online by following the link below which will take you to the Wiltshire Police website where you will find the online complaint form.

Complaints | Wiltshire Police

Make a complaint by email

The email address for making a complaint about Wiltshire Police and to the OPCC is

[email protected]

Make a complaint by phone

The Complaints Resolution Team work remotely and cannot answer telephone calls straight away. You can call 01225 694535 and leave a message and they will try to call you back as soon as possible. However, you may find it easier to make your complaint online or by email.

If you do call, please leave your name and phone number on your message. The team are unable to return your call without this information.

Make a complaint by writing to us

You can write to us at:

The Complaints Resolution Team

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon

London Road

Devizes

Wiltshire

SN10 2RD

 

Who can make a complaint?

In order to make a complaint about the police, you must be eligible to be a complainant.

This is defined by the legislation as someone who has directly witnessed the incident or who is directly affected by it. However, complaints can be raised by other people on behalf of someone else who meets the criteria, but only with their written consent.

If you are not directly affected or were not present at the incident that you have concerns about, you cannot use the police complaints system to make your concerns known. For example, you cannot make a complaint simply because you saw something in the media or on social media. You can still make your concerns known to the police force as part of general feedback.  

You can make a complaint if you:

• have experienced inappropriate behaviour from a police officer, staff member, contractor or volunteer. For instance if you felt they were rude or aggressive in their treatment of you.
• have seen a police officer, staff member, contractor or volunteer acting inappropriately.
• have been adversely affected by the conduct of a police officer, staff member, contractor or volunteer.
• are representing someone affected by any of the categories listed above, and wish to make a complaint on their behalf. You will need to have their written permission. This does not apply if you are the parent or guardian of a child aged 16 or under and wish to complain on their behalf.

You can also complain about how a police force is run. For example, you can complain about policing standards or policing policy.

How will your complaint be handled?

The Complaints Resolution Team will handle your complaint in a reasonable and proportionate way, doing what is appropriate in the circumstances.

They will assess your complaint carefully, taking into account the facts and the context in which the complaint has been raised, following the legislation and the guidance provided by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). A complaints handler from the Complaints Resolution Team will contact you to discuss your complaint and let you know how they propose to deal with it.

If you feel your complaint is justified, but minor, you may be satisfied with an explanation or an apology. Where this is appropriate, the Complaints Resolution Team may be able to resolve your complaint in a less formal but nevertheless thorough way. This is called Service Recovery. This can be fairly flexible and is often the quickest and most effective way to resolve a complaint.

For more serious complaints, the Complaints Resolution Team may ask Wiltshire Police's Professional Standards Department to carry out additional work or a formal investigation.

They do this by formally recording the complaint and will advise you if that is what is happening. Responsibility for resolving the complaint then passes to the Professional Standards Department and they will be in contact with you.

Depending upon the seriousness of the complaint, a decision could be made to refer the complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). You will be told how your complaint will be progressed and how a decision will be reached.

Once the necessary work has been undertaken, the Professional Standards Department will then write to you and tell you the outcome and explain how you can request a review if you are not satisfied with the result.

This will usually be carried out by an Independent Adjudicator based in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner so that an independent person is considering how your complaint was dealt with and whether the outcome was reasonable and proportionate or, if it is a more serious complaint, the review may be done by the IOPC.

The IOPC produce quarterly and annual force performance data which can be found on the below link.

Police complaints statistics | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)

Police force data | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)

Wiltshire Police | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)

Wiltshire OPCC also produce and annual report which can be found on the below link.

Wiltshire Complaints systems 2022-23 v1.pdf

Annual Complaints report 2021-22 FINAL.pdf

If you require any adjustments to support you through the complaints system, please let us know.