Pii and police complaints (1)
01 January 1991
Pii and police complaints
artdoc August=1994
In a landmark judgment in July, the House of Lords decided that
documents generated by an investigation of a complaint against
the police do not automatically attract public interest immunity
(pii), although there may be circumstances in which pii still
attaches. The decision reverses thirteen years of confidentiality
surrounding police complaints which had led to absurd
consequences and led to victims of police misbehaviour refusing
to cooperate with the police complaints procedure because they
were unable to see a copy of their statement of complaint for use
in an action against the police. R v Chief Constable of the West
Midlands Police ex parte Wiley, R v Chief Constable of
Nottinghamshire Police, ex parte Sunderland, 14.7.94.
Statewatch, Vol 4 no 4, July-August 1994