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address. We are yet to be completely Federation to encourage officers to be
convinced that they have fully resolved co-operative at an early stage since it
that or fully understand the implications made a huge difference.
of the case to answer decisions or long “The new IOPC will do all it can to
time delays have for all our officers that improve timeliness and quality but in the
are involved in investigations. The recent case of the former we are not the only sanctioned because of a genuine mistake
decisions on the Sean Rigg case in the Met players in the system and we need your which could be better dealt with as an
after a 10-year wait and the Thomas help and support from others,” he said. opportunity to learn and improve.
Orchard case in Devon and Cornwall after A former council chief executive, he However, the line between mistake and
nearly six years cause us huge concern.” said he had been listening and learning misconduct is not clearly drawn. Many of
And he made it clear he was expecting from people within the IOPC but also those I have spoken to have supported the
Mr Lockwood to tackle this: “The ball is Federation members and other need for an improved approach to
now firmly in your court. Our 120,000 plus stakeholders. As an organisation, he addressing unsatisfactory performance
police officers up and down the country argued, the IOPC would be impartial and within the police, so that mistakes and
are looking to you to prove that if they’re follow where evidence led it but that he poor performance are recognised and
investigated they will be treated fairly, wanted to build up confidence within the treated as such – and the disciplinary
proportionately and a lot quicker by your system. The IOPC is not the judge and jury route is focussed on the most serious
organisation than they have been in the but was about accountability in the police matters,” the director general told
past.” service. delegates.
In his responding address, the director He wanted his staff to understand But he added: “We will not always
general responded to the title of the what it means to be a firearms officer, a agree and the IOPC will not always be
session, explaining: “Changing from the police driver, a custody sergeant or a popular but I hope that an unwavering
IPCC to the IOPC will not just be about a constable on the beat to make them more focus on impartiality, combined with
new logo but a new strategy and a new effective and insightful in their work and better listening and improved
approach; one that I hope will be more aware of the context in which relationships with communities, and
respected on all sides of the policing decisions are made. yourselves will help us earn respect from
debate.” While officers who committed the all sides even in disagreement.”
Improvements were needed, with one worst misconduct are not fit to wear the The session included an input from
of his priorities being to tackle the police uniform and damage the good Thea Walton, head of knowledge and
problem of lengthy investigations. He name of the majority of brave and oversight at IOPC, who outlined how the
pointed out: “We need to be better as an committed officers, he did not want organisation gathered and responded to
organisation and a number of changes are officers pursued for making a mistake feedback.
already underway to speed up our under pressure. It concluded with a question and
processes.” “Like you, I don’t want to see officers answer session involving delegates.
He highlighted improvements that had
already been made in terms of timeliness, Changing from the IPCC to the IOPC will
roughly one third of cases had been closed
in six months, and around two thirds not just be about a new logo but a new
within a year, for the first time more cases
had been closed than opened and case strategy and a new approach; one that I
closures were up by more than 60 per
cent. “ hope will be respected on all sides of the
“We are getting quicker,” he told
conference, but conceded that some policing debate.
legacy cases were complex, and also said “
that it was about the quality of
investigations not just speediness.
Mr Lockwood also urged the

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