Senior police face wave of complaints

One in five of Britain's senior police officers are currently under investigation and facing disciplinary proceedings.

Figures to be released this week reveal that 250 out of 1,300 superintendents are under disciplinary investigation, with 108 disciplinary notices being served in the first eight months of this year alone.

As senior officers struggle to cope with the welter of criticism, David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, will announce tomorrow new reforms that will see the most promising recruits become superintendents in just five years. The ultra-fast-track scheme will cut down the time junior officers spend on the beat and is bound to foster criticism from traditionalists.

The explosion in complaints is having a devastating effect on police morale, according to a survey by the Police Superintendents' Association, which said officers increasingly have to devote large amounts of their time and energy to defending themselves. Some investigations can take as long as five years. In 1994, only 12 superintendents and chief superintendents faced inquiries.

The increase in complaints is a product, says the PSA, of a society beset by compensation culture and increasing work burdens on superintendents. Lack of training is also an issue. One in seven superintendents work in high risk situations, in charge at serious incidents such as riots and shootings, without training. One in three inspectors complain they too have had no training for serious incidents.

"Disciplinary notices are flying around like confetti. Once you have one served your career comes to a halt. You cannot be promoted, you cannot be transferred to another force," said Chief Superintendent Philip Aspey, deputy secretary of the PSA, who will present his findings to its annual conference this week. "No matter how robust these very senior officers are, when your job is at risk you wobble."

Chief Supt Aspey said many of the complaints were spurious and senior officers should be served with a disciplinary notice only if there was a prima facie case. The survey's findings showed a huge disparity across forces. In some superintendents routinely come under formal investigation.

Mr Blunkett will use the PSA conference to outline the new fast-track scheme and provide further details of a new Standards Unit which will act as a sort of Ofsted for the police. The fast-track scheme will slash by two-thirds the time it takes the brightest recruits to become senior officers. The aim is to reward the best, to recruit and keep the highest quality police officers but the move will also cut the traditional time police spend on the beat.

The new promotion scheme would remove the current rules forcing all policemen to spend two years as uniform constables and it would allow ambitious officers to sit promotion examinations while still on probation.

In his speech to the conference on Tuesday, the Home Secretary will risk renewed opposition to his proposed Standards Unit, which will identify failing forces and assist the fight against crime. Mr Blunkett is concerned that public respect for the police is going down, as are conviction rates. Proposed reforms have already met opposition from senior police officers as well as the rank and file. Many believe the answer to policing problems rest with more funding and an increase in police numbers.

But Mr Blunkett hopes to avert problems. A Home Office source said: "He is not trying to strip the police of any benefits for their own sake. The whole aim is to make sure the police are a highly motivated, highly modern service."