 has been overseen by an 'acting' director general for almost a year. Its director general Michael Lockwood was forced to resign at the start of December last year over an allegation of underage sex in the 1980s. Lockwood, 64, was subsequently charged with six counts of indecent assault and three counts of rape against a girl under the age of 16. He denies the charges. IOPC dogged by controversy since inception The IOPC has been dogged by controversy almost since its inception just five years ago. Its predecessor the Independent Police Complaints Commission had lost the confidence and trust of the public, and its death knell was sealed by a scathing parliamentary report that concluded it was overwhelmed and 'woefully underequipped' to deal with serious complaints against the police. The IOPC has in turn faced calls for it to be scrapped. Rank and file police officers have complained they now fear the 'legal processes' that follow tackling a dangerous incident - rather than necessarily the incident itself. Firearms officers in particular are concerned that they are being treated the same as common criminals in situations where weapons have been fired. Stresses and rigours of the job not taken into account The stresses and rigours of the job, they complain, are not being taken into account when investigations are pursued by the IOPC and files passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which ultimately decides if officers should be charged with crimes. Officers have also complained that investigations into their conduct are taking too long, leaving their careers in the balance while complaints are investigated. The IOPC also faced calls for it to be scrapped from victims of the Metropolitan Police's catastrophic investigation into claims - subsequentl){kind=link}
Director general Michael Lockwood was forced to resign at the start of December last year over an allegation of underage sex in the 1980s
The police watchdog that investigated the firearms officer charged with Chris Kaba’s murder is itself in turmoil after its boss was forced to quit over child sex allegations.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been overseen by an ‘acting’ director general for almost a year. Its director general Michael Lockwood was forced to resign at the start of December last year over an allegation of underage sex in the 1980s.
Lockwood, 64, was subsequently charged with six counts of indecent assault and three counts of rape against a girl under the age of 16. He denies the charges.
The IOPC has been dogged by controversy almost since its inception just five years ago. Its predecessor the Independent Police Complaints Commission had lost the confidence and trust of the public, and its death knell was sealed by a scathing parliamentary report that concluded it was overwhelmed and “woefully underequipped” to deal with serious complaints against the police.