Complaints against Cheshire Police have risen for the fourth year in a row, figures show.
There was a small rise in the number of complaints against the force in 2014-15 on the previous year, according to the latest Independent Police Complaints Commission report.
It states that there were 579 complaints against Cheshire Constabulary in 2014-15 – a rise of 28% in the last four years.
In 2011-12, there were 421 complaints, which rose to 461 in 2012-13 and up again in 2013-14 to 568.
A single complaint can contain more than one allegation.
The overall number of allegations against Cheshire Police has dropped from 1,288 in 2013-14 to 1,268 in 2014-15.
The figures also show the number of allegations against Cheshire Constabulary employees (not contracted staff) was 1,241.
This equates to 338 allegations per 1,000 employees in the force, which currently employs 3,676.
A total of 564 of the 1,268 allegations in 2014-15 had investigations into them completed.
Of these, 87 of them (15%) were upheld by the force, while 477 of them (85%) were not upheld.
Cheshire Police has improved in the number of complaints against the force it reports within the recommended 10-day period.
In 2014-15, they recorded 99% of complaints against the force within the recommended 10 working days as set down by the IPCC.
This is up on 2013-14, which saw 95% recorded within the first 10 days.
Supt Nick Bailey, head of Cheshire Police Professional Standards Department, said: “The ability and willingness of the public to express dissatisfaction where they believe the standards of service have fallen below expectations is vitally important to us to assist us to focus on putting matters right when they do occasionally go wrong.
“The overwhelming majority of officers and staff do a highly professional job each and every day, and understanding why and how often complaints are made helps to improve our collective performance.
“We continue to work closely with the IPCC to provide reassurance and strive to meet the needs of complainants while being fair to officers and staff, and to ensure those whose conduct sometimes falls below expectations are rightly held to account.”
Nationally, the number of complaint cases recorded increased in 2014/15 for the third consecutive year.
A total of 37,105 complaints were recorded in 2014/15 – a 6% increase compared to 2013/14 and a 62% increase since 2004/05.
Nearly two-thirds of police forces (28) saw an increase in the number of complaint cases recorded in 2014/15 when compared to 2013/14.
A spokesman for the IPCC in the report said: “The 2014 survey told us that public satisfaction following contact with the police was falling and that there was a greater willingness to complain about that contact.
“The findings of this report, particularly the increasing numbers of complaints recorded, suggest that this trend has continued.”
That’s a fair point but we have also to question how some of the money is spent and what priorities are set. Do we for example need a glossy full colour brochure each year telling us how great they are (plus postage costs)? Or expensive new furniture at Police HQ? Most policemen and policewomen (though sadly there are a few rotten apples in every walk of life) are great, but how their resources are used and managed is questionable sometimes, as is what they choose to police…….
Could it be that the increase is caused by the constant year-on-year reduction in police budgets? Policing costs money. We have already seen changes (mostly planned reductions) in services. Even if efficiency is good, service reductions will be noticeable and likely to lead to public resentment and, hence, complaints.