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Listening and responding to your concerns and complaints

If you are dissatisfied with the service you receive, your dissatisfaction may be about:

• The direction and control of a police force, e.g. policies, allocation of resources across geographic areas, etc. or
• The inappropriate conduct of any individual serving with the police or
• A failure to deliver services in accordance with the Victims’ Code 

If your complaint concerns the Direction and Control of a force it can be reported to the force or the Police Authority and We will:

• Record, investigate and respond to you as appropriate;
• Be as open and transparent as the maintenance of effective policing will allow;
• Set local standards for the timeliness of our response, the information to be supplied to you and the opportunity available to you to seek further information if you are not content with the initial response. [2]
• Use this information to inform the development of future local policy and practice.
• Use this information to increase our understanding of how you wish to be treated 

If your complaint concerns the inappropriate conduct of any individual serving with the police it can be reported to the force, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) or through the Citizens Advice Bureau. 

The IPCC is the organisation which oversees the system for dealing with a complaint about inappropriate conduct. The role of the IPCC is to ensure that complaints are handled in an open, efficient and fair way.   

In relation to a complaint about inappropriate conduct, We will:

• Whenever possible and with your agreement, attempt local resolution
• Investigate the complaint appropriately
• Adhere to the values and guidance of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.   

If your complaint is about failure to deliver services in the Victims’ Code, it should be reported to the force. If you are not satisfied with the response we give you, you have a right of further complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration whose job is to enforce the Code 

In the case of any complaint made to us, We will: 

• demonstrate police accountability
• operate to improve standards
• be responsive to the needs of the complainant
• be just and proportionate
• be timely and effective
• be open to public scrutiny and sensitive to the public interest
• increase public confidence in our ability to deal effectively with your concerns and complaints 

[2] Guidance on the registering, handling and monitoring of complaints which relate to direction and control. Issued under Section 14(2) Police Reform Act 2002 by Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers, endorsed by Her majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Home Office. 

Associated information

• A full copy of our Quality of Service Commitment is available here
• Further information about reporting a concern or complaint to Humberside Police 

If, as a victim of crime you feel that we have not delivered on our obligations under the code, you should ask for a leaflet explaining how to make a complaint. You will receive a response within 10 working days. 

If you make a complaint regarding a breach of the Code but are not satisfied with the outcome, you may refer the issue, through a Member of Parliament, to the Parliamentary Ombudsman for consideration.