chance to try their hand at liaison work. A review of the integration of the P.E.S. into the C.D.O. scheme is nearly completed. In March the P.E.S. Headquarters will move into International Building with the rest of departmental headquarters.
72. Apart from their authority to witness statutory declarations, C.D.O.S have no statutory powers to deal with personal cases. Their power rests on the status of the office and the reputation of the staff. At first a good many cranks arrived. Another numerous class was people who expected us to handle complaints of corruption or deal with reports of gambling. We cannot deal with crime, as most people well know, and the reason often given for coming to C.D.O.s was that other channels were suspect. We think that many reports were less than altruistic and have had cases of informers who are thought to be squeezing the criminals themselves. Naturally we have passed all such information to the Police, preserving anonymity when this has been requested.
73. Requests for review of an adverse decision have been numerous. We try to see if there is any obvious policy objection and if not then the case is referred to a named officer in the department concerned. In many cases a change has been made but more often it has been possible to get a fuller explanation of the adverse decision. A demonstration of concern is often well received even if the outcome is unfavourable. In many cases there can be no outcome satisfactory to the complainant, but an explanation or a chance to talk about the problem to someone outside the department concerned often helps the person to accept the adverse decision.
74. In cases where departments are involved we could be, and some- times are, told that the matter is none of our business or complaints are shrugged off. This is not always an unreasonable attitude and can only be countered by persistence and courtesy on the part of C.D.O. staff. There is room for improvement here for it is much easier to write a case off when it is put squarely in the hands of the appropriate department than to follow it through. We do ask departments to inform us of the outcome of appeals and complaints and we believe we should put our- selves in the place of the complainant in assessing how the outcome looks.
75. I cannot say yet whether the taking up of reasonable cases has had any effect on the attitude of junior staff in other departments but if it can become known that cavalier treatment of the public is liable
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