
The Independent Police Complaints Commission
report
This NAO report (HC 1035, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102954371) focuses on the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation of complaints against the police. The IPCC has responsibility for the performance of the whole police complaints system and has a remit to investigate complaints and conduct matters involving police officers. It can recommend appropriate action by the police force concerned and forward information to the Crown Prosecution Service. It employs just under 400 staff and has a net expenditure for 2007-08 of £32.2 million, with £30.1 million financed from the Home Office. In 2007-08 nearly 29,000 complaints were made against the police. Most were dealt with locally by the relevant police force, and did not involve the IPCC. The NAO findings include: supervised investigations are not the most effective use of IPCC resources; the IPCC is facing an increasing workload when its funding is being reduced; the IPCC is not yet providing full guidance and training for its staff; there was a number of investigations where there was no auditable record that an IPCC Commissioner had reviewed and approved an investigation report; the review functioning of the IPCC is not operating as intended; there is no formal review of cases after they have been completed; the work carried out by the IPCC is not subject to external scrutiny; there is significant inconsistency across the IPCC regions in the way recommendations arising from investigations are being followed up; no single organisation has responsibility for monitoring the implementation of recommendations by police forces; the IPCC should undertake regular surveys to obtain feedback and identify actions that need to be taken to improve client satisfaction.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
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Dark tone · Urgent pace
Works well for a focused weekend or a few concentrated sittings.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
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A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-1029-5437-1
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL37015111M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
Works well for a focused weekend or a few concentrated sittings.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.







