Complaint re Dame Anne Owers - Home Office acknowledgement received

Finally, Chris Blairs of the IPCC Sponsor Unit in the Home Office has acknowledged receipt of my formal complaint regarding the conduct of Dame Anne Owers sent to him on 30th January 2014.

Here is the text of Mr. Blair's belated acknowledgement:

12 March 2014

Dear Dr Watt

Thank you for your letter of 30 January raising a complaint against Dame Anne Owers, Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

As Head of the IPCC Sponsor Unit within the Home Office, I am responsible for hearing all complaints against the Chair of the IPCC. All complaints are treated seriously and I will therefore write to you shortly with fuller consideration..


Yours sincerely



Christopher Blairs
Head of Police Transparency Unit

It has taken the Home Office almost 7 weeks to acknowledge receipt of my complaint. At this rate of progress Dame Anne Owers may have retired before the complaint is heard.

Perhaps that is Mr. Blairs' intention.

e-petition calling for abolition of the Independent Police Complaints Commission

A few days ago I filled in a form to create an e-petition asking for the abolition of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

This morning the vetting process of my text was completed by the Home Office.

The e-petition is now available for signing here.

The British public needs a body with more competence and more integrity than the IPCC demonstrates.

Please consider signing the petition: Abolish the Independent Police Complaints Commission

"IPCC Rogues" - Graeme Thame

The unProfessional Standards Department web site has begun a new section labelled "IPCC Rogues".

The first individual "rogue" targetted by uPSD is Graeme Thame an IPCC member of staff about whom I also have serious doubts.

I'll post a detailed account of my concerns about Graeme Thame in a future post on this blog.

Why a blog on the Independent Police Complaints Commission?

Today the issue of Police misconduct has had huge media attention after the publication yesterday of the Ellison Report and the Home Secretary's statement yesterday to the House of Commons..

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is the body with statutory responsbility for investigating Police misconduct.

As, over the last year or so, I have learned more of how the IPCC works I've become increasingly concerned that it is seriously failing in its duty with respect to the investigation of Police corruption.

Some of those concerns were encapsulated in my letter of complaint regarding the former IPCC Deputy Chair, Deborah Glass (see Is Deborah Glass a fit person to be an IPCC Commissioner?) and my letter of complaint regarding Dame Anne Owers, Chair of the IPCC, (see Is Dame Anne Owers a fit person to be Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission?).

Why the title of the blog?

About 3 years ago I started a blog called Chilcot's Cheating Us which examined the inadequacies of the Iraq Inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, and later examined in detail the suspicious death of Dr. David Kelly in 2003 and the cover-up by Thames Valley Police and others.

Later I started a blog about how the Police cheat us, so that was called The Police are cheating us.

As I learned more about how the Police are cheating us I began to realise that the failings of the Independent Police Complaints Commision make it easy for the Police to commit misconduct and get away with it.

I don't believe that the Police should get away with misconduct.

Nor do I think that the IPCC should be deficient in competence and deficient in honesty without it being noticed and publicised.

Hence this blog.