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Do's and Don'ts if considering to appeal a decision?
In a recent video, some club members of 'Swindon Wheelers' were knocked off their bikes and one assaulted - the driver only received a caution!
Suggestions were "Definitely appeal", "write to the duty inspector" and "report this to the local police crime commissioner".
In another article, advice was "Don't bother with the letter to the inspector, go straight to the independent complaints body"
Is there a preferred method when appealing, a sort of 'best practices' to help achieve a positive result?
Any experience/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
Edit, 15/9/21 10:50am: Sorry if I was unclear, I meant, in general is there a particular order of contacting the various parties. I am not currently appealing a case, but was curious about the different suggestions. Thank you for the replies so far 
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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15 comments
I complained about a decision to just send a letter to a driver who nearly had me off, sounding the horn as he nearly collided with my back wheel. I had to go through the Sussex police and crime commissioner's office in order to get the 'Operation Crackdown' people to review the decision. After some faffing around they agreed that the letter was inappropriate and that it should have been prosecuted, but as they had already sent the letter they were unable to take further action. They did say that they had given the assessor some re-education such that the same incident would be prosecuted next time.
So they admitted they made a mistake, but were unable to correct it? Is that some sort of loophole, sounds like that 'double jeopardy' law. At least you got the standards to improve though, hopefully
Thanks
I'd be minded to just go after the scrote in a civil damages case. Police will take forever, so take legal advice and claim against their insurer. It doesn't remove him from the road (unless he becomes insurable) but a few grand for a shiny new bike or a holiday might help.
Oh, right... I didn't think about a civil damage case. I will look that up. Thanks
I am an expert at this procedure, but I expect it varies with the area. In Lancashire, the PCC won't accept complaints until they have been through the police's own joke Professional Standards (Internal Affairs in the US, and in Scandinavia if the Scandi-Noirs are to be believed) complaint procedure. This, in Lancashire at least, is designed to wear out complainants by taking 6 months to come up with the pre-ordained conclusion that the police are very busy and therefore did as well as they could. The LCPS also comes up with completely barmy conclusions like: 'although there is immaculate video of the illegal and dangerous white line crossing offence, we must have confirmatory video from the offending vehicle'. They have no shame! What I don't know is whether the Lancashire PCC procedure is just as much of a joke, with a pre-ordained outcome, because it only began a couple of months ago (it's about the force ignoring numerous red light crossing offences). The message is- whatever a complaint is about it's going to take a year. The odds are stacked against you because the police definitely, and the PCC possibly, view the real enemy not as the offenders but as the people who complain about offences.
Have you had any response from the PCC? Or are they 'still investigating'? Professional Standards are staffed in the main by police officers. I don't know how the PCC resources their investigation.
PCC still deliberating. I am anticipating several months yet.
Thanks for the detailed reply, wtjs, although it does make for sobering reading.
Quite a few of the 'cycling incidents' I've read about on here seem to end up in a legal battle, even when, like you say immaculate video is available.
Sounds like a real challenge to get justice
I guess if you do ever 'win' against the system it's a real cause for celebration! Hope your complaints prove successful
I realise you're not actually complaining to the PCC at the moment, but the general principle still applies: you have to keep going. If you give ground anywhere along the complaint pathway they will seize the opportunity to forget about it. I have bored people with the story of the police/ defence dodges used to discredit GPS speed measurements in a white line crossing case against a nutter close-passing, speeding and white-line crossing BMW. I have today performed the first (until I get it just right) 6 minute video in which I frequently glance down to the handlebar to display the speed readings on 2 adjacent Cateye cycle computers- one is over 20 years old, the other about 5 years old. I can place the GPS speedo on the screen between the 2 Cateyes, which are of course programmed with the same calibrated wheel circumference of 2166 mm. They differ by up to 1.5 kph instantaneously even though they come up with the same total distance at the end of the test- less than 0.33% difference. I attribute this to the newer Cateye having a 32 bit processor and being much faster in response than the old one. The video shows that the GPS always underestimates the true speed by up to 2 kph. The defence are trying to claim that when the GPS speedo says I'm travelling at over 20 mph, I'm really travelling at 10 in order to justify the obvious gross white line offence. They're going to look stupid, so I hope they continue with the 'Not Guilty' plea
Hahaha. i just bought a security lock since my bike was stolen. Hope it will help me to keep over 3 years. There are many criminals that want to take.
I know nothing about complaints in the policing sphere, but a fair bit in other areas. I think it's pretty common that before you can complain/appeal to a 'higher' authority, you have to go through the organisation's own complaints procedure. And that can be very frustrating as it adds a stage and people often will have little confidence in the independence on an internal complaints process.
Go on the Wiltshire Police website.
https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/
Near the bottom there's a link to 'thanks and complaints'. Click on that and then there is a section on how to make a complaint.
Good luck!
Apologies zero_trooper, I should have worded it better - I meant in a general case, but thanks for the info on Wiltshire Police, I will certainly check that out.
Might be worth re-titling your post to see if people will click through and help more. Perhaps something like "Help required for a successful complaint about the police"??
Yeah, I stole the 'Dress for Success' book title, but I can see now it's not that good... ah well
Just to be clear, I'm not currently appealing a case, was just confused by the various suggestions, Duty Officer, Commisioner, Complains body etc, which one first.
Edit: I changed it