How to Complain

• Step 1: How you can complain
• Step 2: How long do you have to complain
• Step 3: What the Police Ombudsman will do about your complaint
• Step 4: Looking after you and the police officer
• Step 5: Ways of dealing with your complaint
• Step 6: The Police Ombudsman's decisions
• Step 7: If the police officer is prosecuted
• Step 8: Disciplinary proceedings
• Step 9: Telling you what has happened to your complaint

STEP 1: How you can complain

You can do any one of the following:

• Call in at our office at New Cathedral Buildings, St Anne's Square, 11 Church Street, Belfast BT1 1PG between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
  You do not need an appointment. Our office is opposite St Anne's Cathedral.
• Write to the Police Ombudsman at the address given above.
• Call in at your local Citizens' Advice Bureau and they will tell you how to contact us.
• Call in at your local police station. They will not deal with your complaint, but they will refer it to us as soon as possible.
• Contact your solicitor, who can tell us about your complaint.
• Phone us on 0845 601 2931 or 028 9082 8600
• Fax us on 028 9082 8659
• E-mail us at info@policeombudsman.org
• If you are in prison and you have a complaint about the conduct of a police officer, you can write to us. The prison staff will treat your letter as confidential.
• You may complete our Online Complaints Form

STEP 2: How long do you have to complain

You must make your complaint within one year of the incident you are concerned about.

In special circumstances, We can investigate complaints about things that happened more than a year before they are reported to us. These will be cases where:

• here was a previous investigation, and the Police Ombudsman considers that your complaint is grave or exceptional or
• there was a previous investigation, but there is now new evidence which was not available before, and the Police Ombudsman believes your complaint is grave or exceptional.

STEP 3: What the Police Ombudsman will do about your complaint

• We will arrange to take details of your complaint.
• After speaking to you, we will decide how we will deal with your complaint.
• We will tell you the name of the person responsible for dealing with your complaint.
• We will give you as much information as we can at every stage of the complaints process.
• We will give you a written report on our decision about your complaint.

STEP 4: Looking after you and the police officer

• We will treat everyone with respect and do all we can to make the process as simple and as quick as possible. However, some complaints are very complicated and may involve many other people, such as doctors and other witnesses. This may mean that your complaint could take some time to investigate.
• We will aim to reply to your letters within four working days of receiving them.
• We will respect your human rights, and those of the police officer you have complained about.

STEP 5: Ways of dealing with your complaint

• If we believe your complaint is suitable for Informal Resolution, and you agree to this, we will refer the matter within days to the police for them to deal with. We will check how the police have dealt with your complaint.
• If the matter is not suitable for Informal Resolution, we may refer it to our investigators and keep you informed about the case.
• We will refer your complaint to the Chief Constable if it is about the police service in general or a matter of police policy.
• The Police Ombudsman also has the power to ask the police to investigate the case if she thinks it is right to do so

STEP 6: The Police Ombudsman's decisions

When your complaint has been investigated, the Police Ombudsman may decide to do any of the following:

• Recommend to the Director of Public Prosecutions (the DPP) that the police officer should be prosecuted. It is for the DPP to decide whether they will prosecute the officer.
• Recommend that the Chief Constable should bring disciplinary proceedings against the officer involved. If the Police Ombudsman and the Chief Constable disagree about whether the police officer should be brought before a misconduct hearing, the Police Ombudsman can insist that the Chief Constable does so.
• Recommend that disciplinary proceedings should be brought by the Policing Board if the officer you have complained about is an Assistant Chief Constable, a Deputy Chief Constable or the Chief Constable.
• Recommend compensation. Even if the Police Ombudsman recommends compensation, your solicitor will still tell you about any other legal rights you may have.
• Reject your complaint, for example, because there is not enough evidence to support it. We will tell you the reasons for this decision.

STEP 7: If the police officer is prosecuted

• f the police officer is prosecuted, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will deal with the case. We will explain how this works.

STEP 8: Disciplinary proceedings

• If the Police Ombudsman decides that an officer should face disciplinary action, we will explain this process to you

STEP 9: Disciplinary proceedings

After the investigation, we will tell you whether the Police Ombudsman has decided to recommend that the DPP (see step 6) the Chief Constable or the Policing Board take any action (see step 8). When all the necessary hearings have been held, we will tell you what the final outcome is.

The Police Ombudsman's decision is final. However, if new information comes to light that you could not reasonably have known about, he may start a new investigation.

Complaints against the Police Ombudsman

If you want to complain about our service, please tell us and we will investigate your complaint.

If you are still unhappy you can write to:
The Secretary of State
The Northern Ireland Office
Castle Buildings
Stormont
BELFAST
BT4 3SG

Download a leaflet on complaining about the Police Ombudsman.