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.

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