Focus

Each issue looks at a specific topic, and gives advice and examples for professional standards departments, local policing bodies and others in the police service who manage complaints.

Focus complements and supports our Statutory Guidance for the police on the handling of complaints.

Focus is written for local policing bodies and Home Office police forces in England and Wales. It also applies to those agencies and non-Home Office forces that have entered into Section 26 or Section 26BA agreements with the IOPC, subject to any particular provisions contained in those agreements.

Please note, some of the case studies in Focus are entirely fictional to help demonstrate a principle. Some are fictionalised based on elements from a few cases and some are real cases that have been anonymised. Due to its nature and intended audience, Focus includes technical language and references to the application of complex legislation.