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In addition, we will be implementing the recommendations arising from an independent review of CAPO procedures and a comparative study of overseas police complaints system. These will ensure that complaints are handled thoroughly, impartially, and with due expedition. For example, by setting time limits for investigation and by setting up a special panel of the IPCC to monitor serious cases.
The above measures demonstrate that we are committed to improving the existing police complaints system. We strongly oppose the proposal to involve an additional statutory body, COMAC, in investigating complaints against the police. This will result in drastic changes to the existing system which has been running smoothly and to which improvements are being made.
It will also cause considerable confusion. What, for example, would be the role of the IPCC under the new system? Is it envisaged that the IPCC would monitor the investigations carried out by COMAC? If so, how would that square with COMAC's independence?
We should also not underestimate the effect that these changes would have on the police themselves. At this time more than any other, we need a police force that is focused on its work and confident in its ability to serve the community, not one that is distracted by other issues and that feels under attack from members of this Council.
One other important point is that the proposal to place the police under COMAC's general jurisdiction would have serious practical implications for COMAC's operations. The large number of complaints handled by CAPO in recent years would mean a very substantial increase in the number of complaint cases COMAC would have to deal with. In 1994 and 1995, for example, CAPO handled 4,328 general complaints of maladministration against the police. This is about 1.4 times the total number of complaints received by COMAC during the same period. Apart from requiring a significant increase in staff resources, COMAC would also need special expertise to handle these new cases. Experience has shown that investigations of complaints against police officers are often associated with matters concerning criminal investigations. COMAC would find it difficult, if not impossible, to conduct these investigations effectively without the assistance of highly trained and experienced professional investigators. This applies equally to complaints of a non- criminal nature. The special circumstances of police work are such that for complaints to be investigated by outsiders could be very difficult and possibly counter-productive.
At a time when COMAC is beginning to work off a large backlog of cases arising from the introduction of the direct access policy in 1994, the Administration strongly believes that even if it were desirable to give him jurisdiction over all complaints against the police - which it is not - it would not be feasible or in the public interest for him to take them on.
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