DPF Briefing

April 2004

New Misconduct Regulations

As of 1st April 2004 the new Ministry of Defence Police misconduct regulations come into effect. The new regulations will be outlined in a special force order issued by force head quarters.

There are some significant changes to our regulations and in line with this, the Federation are organising refresher courses for our accredited friends.

Information from our home department and Scottish office colleagues indicates that there is no fundamental change to the results of misconduct hearings, even though the standard of proof has dropped from beyond reasonable doubt to balance of probabilities.

As of 1st April the complaints & discipline department will be known as the professional standards department (PSD). The Chief Constable’s hearings will be replaced by an ACC hearing, however the accused officer will be warned in advance that the top three sanctions are available and that they are therefore entitled to be legally represented.

In the most serious of cases there will be a fast track procedure which may be adopted by the PSD.

Also there are major changes to the appeal system removing the right of appeal to the PUS. This will be replaced by a panel of four independents.

Finally these regulations have been approved by England & Wales, Scotland and the Ombudsman in Northern Ireland, so they will cover all officers in the United Kingdom.