A report to today's meeting of Suffolk Police Authority shows that in 2009/10 there were 148 complaints against Bury town officers, against 70 complaints in 2008/09 and just 48 in 2007/08. However, changes to custody arrangements and a high number of multiple complaint cases have affected the figures.

Deputy Chief Constable Jacqui Cheer said that what at first looked like an 'alarming increase' could be attributed to both of these.

Of the 148 complaints, 37 related to the treatment of detainees in custody. Bury is now the centralised custody station for the whole of the western area of the county. In 2007/08, only four of the 48 complaints related to custody.

The number of 'multiple complaint' cases has also soared, with 53 of the 148 complaints arising from five individual cases.

The nature of the complaints made against officers in Bury were consistent with the rest of the county, added the report, with the highest area being neglect/failure in duty, followed by incivility and oppressive conduct.

"Despite the statistical rise there are no identified issues of concern not already being addressed as part of the force-wide complaint reduction programme.


Click here to go back to our main news index.