THERE has been a huge rise in the number of public complaints made against police in Ealing in the past year.
A report prepared by the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) reveals the number of allegations of unwarranted police action has soared by 37 per cent.
Figures show that up to February 28 this year there were 485 complaints, compared to 354 in the same period last year.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) publication - referred to as the Borough Support Management Information (BSMI) report - showed the highest number of complaints was against officers in Wandsworth, where there was a massive 59 per cent increase.
However, the difference between the total number of allegations recorded between the two boroughs is very close, with Ealing receiving the second highest number of individual complaints - 131 - while Wandsworth had 138.
The incidents in the report include oppressive behaviour, discriminatory behaviour, malpractice, failures in duty, incivility and traffic irregularity.
Under these headings, in Ealing, failures in duty made up the highest number of allegations at 198, followed by 112 of oppressive behaviour and 96 of incivility.
At the other end of the scale, from the 31 borough results listed, the best performers were Hounslow, Redbridge and Sutton, which all experienced a drop in the number of complaints recorded against police.
Hounslow showed an 18 per cent fall, with 52 fewer allegations since the last period, with Redbridge and Sutton decreasing by 17 per cent.
Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents front-line officers, played down the rise in Ealing and said: "There have been a higher number of complaints everywhere, affected by things such as a new system of recording complaints by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
"For the Met as a whole it has gone up consistently for a number of years now. But some people will say it is a positive thing, because now people are getting confident to come forward."
