The main complaints handled by the PCA are the following:
- Assault when under arrest
- Neglect of duty
- Breaches of Police and Criminal Evidence Act codes
Once a complaint is put across to the PCA, a member is to look at the case and investigate whether the officer which would have been chosen by the Police Force. Regardless of how long the investigation takes this member will interact with the investigating officer exchanging findings about the case, until the investigation is finalized, before considering the report finalized it has to be signed by the member of the PCA.
Since 1996 when the police Act was put in place it was agreed that any serious offences such as;
- Deaths in custody
- All discharges of firearms by police in which a member of the public was injured or killed
- All driving incidents involving police drivers in which a member of the public was killed and in some of which a member of the public was seriously injured.
- Certain serious corruption enquiries
The PCA has the authority to decide whether a police officer should be put through disciplinary measures because of inadequate behaviour.
Current affairs:
Here I am going to include a report found in the following website.
This report makes reference to the death of an innocent person when the “shoot to kill” policy was used.
IPCC to Investigate Complaint from Jean Charles de Menezes’ Family
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will carry out an independent investigation into allegations raised in a formal complaint from the family of Jean Charles de Menezes.
The complaint alleges that individuals within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) made false public statements following the fatal shooting of Jean Charles at Stockwell Underground station on 22 July 2005.
To avoid any delay or distraction to the existing investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting, a separate investigation will be carried out into the family’s complaint. It will be led by Mike Grant, an IPCC Senior Investigator based in the IPCC’s Central Region, who will be supported by Peter Goode, IPCC Acting Director of Operations.
The family’s letter of complaint refers to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service and so in accordance with the Police Reform Act, the Home Secretary nominated Mr Grant as the senior investigating officer following a request from the IPCC.
Mr Grant will report to a panel of three IPCC Commissioners: Mehmuda Mian Pritchard, Naseem Malik and David Petch.
A second aspect of the family’s complaint, that the MPS delayed informing them of Jean Charles’ death is to be incorporated into the existing investigation led by IPCC Senior Investigator John Cummins. However this issue will not be completed at the same time as the main inquiry.
The family also raised concerns about why the MPS did not subsequently correct inaccurate information that was in the public domain. The IPCC has explained to the family that the IPCC itself had urged those involved not to comment on the facts of the case and so this will not form part of our investigation.
Nick Hardwick, Chair of the IPCC, said:
“Neither we nor Jean Charles’ family want this complaint to distract us from the main task of finding out how and why Jean Charles died. We still expect our investigation into the shooting to be completed by the end of December. The results of our investigation will be made public once the legal processes are completed.”
Speaking about the new investigation, Mr Hardwick added:
“We will treat this investigation in the same way as any other, although I have asked a panel of three IPCC Commissioners to oversee it. We have not made any assumptions and for the sake of Jean Charles’ family, officers within the MPS and the public at large, will try to establish the truth in an impartial, proportionate and timely way.”
Power:
I would personally define power as the ability which you have to get people to obey your orders. The dictionary definition of power is:
“the ability to do or act; mental or bodily faculty; influence, authority; ascendancy; authorization; influential person; state with international influence; vigour, energy.
The definition given in BTEC National Public Services Book 1 is:
“The capacity or ability to make a person perform a task that goes against their interests “
A study carried out by Raven on 1965 found that there where six bases of power are
- Reward power
- Coercive power
- Informational power
- Expert power
- Legitimate power
- Efferent power
Reward power: Referent Power means the power or ability of bosses to influence employees’ feelings about themselves or their emotions in relation to their work. It's based on the charisma of the power holder. Here the person under power desires to identify with these personal qualities, and gains satisfaction from being an accepted follower.
Coercive power: Means the application of negative influences onto employees. It might refer to the ability to demote or to withhold other rewards. It's the desire for valued rewards or the fear of having them withheld that ensures the obedience of those under power
Informational power: We do what we are asked to because the person that is giving out those orders may have good communication skills, which are used to convince us.
Expert power: This is bosses’ power in terms of their knowledge about work and power due to this knowledge at work. Expert power rests on the skills or expertise of the person holding power. Unlike the others, this type of power is usually highly specific and limited to the particular area in which the expert is trained and qualified
Legitimate power: This term refers to power of bosses because of their relative positions or the formal workplace structure. Legitimate power is identical with authority, and depends upon the belief of individuals in the right of senior people to hold their positions, and their consequent willingness to accept the power holder.
Referent power: This means the power or ability of bosses to influence employees’ feelings about themselves or their emotions in relation to their work. It's based on the charisma of the power holder. Here the person under power desires to identify with these personal qualities, and gains satisfaction from being an accepted follower
Influence:
The dictionary definition of influence is the following:
“Effect a person or thing has on another (usually over them); ascendancy, moral power; thing or person exercising this”.
This is different to power because although there may be a conflict of interests there would be no conflict whilst the task is being concluded. The subject carrying out the task will have been convinced by the person in authority to change their ways.
If your are made to se the importance of the task you are being asked to carry out you will take grater interest in it.
Position:
What is meant here is the rank of authority somebody may have, the power they have is legitimate, they have reached a higher rank because they deserve to.
People in lower ranks have the lawful obligation to follow orders given by those in higher ranks to them. Therefore they should be respected and their orders should be followed.
But this isn’t exclusive to the public services as children parents have authority over us, and in school teachers would have authority over pupils.
Status:
Status when relating to authority is very similar to obedience status. People obey to authority because they know that the person giving the orders has more knowledge on the subject area than themselves.
These are some of the reasons why people obey relating to status:
- Because they are experts
- Higher status to you
- Or because they have power
Within the public services it is obvious to you what your status is, who you are superior to and who you are inferiors to. This is because of the rank structure.
Accountability:
In Britain every one is accountable to somebody about their actions, even organizations or companies. For example someone in a low rank would be accountable to a person in a higher rank. So you always have somebody who you will have to explain yourself to if you behave inappropriately.
Questioning of orders:
Within the public services and the armed forces particularly it is vital that orders are followed to ensure things running smoothly. Questioning orders given to you would only slow things down.
The rank structure is in place to ensure that people in lower ranks now that they have the obligation to follow commands from higher ranks, so legitimate commands should be followed without question. In most occasions it would be unacceptable to question orders as this would be seen as questioning your superior’s authority.
Disobedience:
It is necessary to maintain good discipline levels as lack of discipline would cause chaos and put people’s lives at risk. Therefore people who disobey orders suffer serious consequences and are put through disciplinary measures, depending on the seriousness of the offence you could be faced with a dishonourable discharge.
Blind obedience:
People in general are willing to agree to requests from people who are in authority i.e. from higher ranking people within an organization. Obedience occurs when people obey commands/orders from others to do something. Military leaders give commands that they expect to be followed without question, this is vital because troops need to be trained to follow orders and follow them so that if they are ever in a dangerous situation they can do their job effectively without to stop and evaluate which would take up time and can put the whole of the troops life at risk. But this also has its down sides, such as the events that occurred in Nazi Germany if more people had questioned what they where doing many lives could have been saved.
So basically obedience can be a very good positive aspect of everyday life, especially within the public services.
Nevertheless there can also be tragic consequences of obedience if it used in the wrong way. People obey and carry out actions that they may think are wrong because People in authority who issue the orders take away the responsibility from those who obey.
For example, the person who obeyed would probably say 'I was only carrying out orders' or because the people in authority often possess visible badges or signs of their superiority. These consist of special uniforms and titles. Having such obvious reminders of who's in charge, most people find it difficult not to obey.