The Federation are pushing to cap the time an officer can be under investigation via cross-party MPs after a lack of response from government

The Federation's Time Limits campaign is calling for a time limit for disciplinary proceedings against officers of 12 months from allegations being made.

If investigations go on for over a year they want a Legally Qualified Chair to then be appointed who has the power to close cases.

Speaking today (8 September) during a seminar at the Emergency Services Show in Birmingham were Tiffany Lynch, Federation Professional Standards lead and Phill Matthews, Federation Conduct and Performance lead.

Mr Matthews told Police Oracle: “We've tried to come up with a workable solution that's good for everybody, not just our members, but for the public as well.

“We've not had any of that listened to by the government. We've taken to trying to get more peer pressure on them.”

Their aim is to speak to every MP in England and Wales and have so far reached around 125 MPs this year. Mr Matthews said there was a “broad spectrum of agreement across all political parties for it”.

“We don't think the police minister actually gets what we're trying to do. And he keeps prevaricating,” he said.

“We're only asking for extra scrutiny and to give that legally qualified person the power to have oversight on that investigation and actually either call things or say carry on. Because we think that's fair, it's reasonable.”

“The regulations say they should be dealt with quickly, efficiently and expeditiously. And they're not. So it's really bad for morale, really bad for the psychological wellbeing of the members. There's no excuse for it.”

“For years, we've been trying to get some teeth into the regulations. But we've got absolutely no say. We get a seat at the table. But they don't have to listen to what we're saying. And that's a problem.”

He said the Independent Office for Police Conduct had been “really responsive” and the relationship between them and the Federation had “massively improved”.

“They are working towards trying to get in that time limit, and they have taken huge giant leaps forward,” he said.

“But in the last 18 months we've still had 40-plus complaints that they're investigating that go past that 12 month period. And that's 40 too many."

He said while some of the investigation might involve some serious consequences, such as a death, they're still simple investigations.

“The cops involved and the complainants are known. There's usually the statements from everybody involved. There's usually CCTV, documentary evidence, control tapes, logs...it's all there. It's not like a stranger murder that nobody's got any clues to. It's really, really simple cases to investigate."

The Federation have put forward an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which has been delayed after a backlash to some its other more controversial aspects, such as around protests.

The Bill is back in the House of Lords next Tuesday and the Federation are still lobbying for the amendment to go through for when the Bill goes back to Parliament.