The First Stages of Dealing With a Complaint Inital Assessment When a person or family makes a complaint to us we will seek as much specific detail and information from them as is possible about the incident. In doing this we seek to establish if the matter is grave or exceptional, is something we are legally empowered to investigate and is capable of investigation. When we have established that a matter should be investigated, we will set about gathering and reviewing all the available evidence about the incident in question. This might include transcripts from legal proceedings or other public sources. The Office also has access to material held by police and as a first step we will gather documentation held within relevant RUC files and databases. We will also seek to gather any new material which has come to light in recent years. Having assessed all this material, we will establish if there is enough information to provide answers to the questions which have been raised. If so, we will provide those answers. If not, the matters will be subject to further investigation.