Independent Police Complaints Commission

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.

On 8 January 2018, the IPCC was replaced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

The IPCC was formally founded in 2003, replacing the Police Complaints Authority (PCA). Funded by the Home Office, the IPCC operated under statutory powers and duties defined in the Police Reform Act 2002. It was independent of pressure groups, political parties and, in principle, of government.

The IPCC could elect to manage or supervise the police investigation into a particular complaint and independently investigate the most serious cases itself. While some of the IPCC's investigators were former police officers, the commissioners themselves could not have worked for the police by law.

It had set standards for police forces to improve the way the public's complaints were handled. The IPCC also handled appeals by the public about the way their complaint was dealt with by the local force, or its outcomes. The IPCC was given the task of increasing public confidence in the complaint system.

From April 2006, the IPCC took on responsibility for similar, serious complaints against HM Revenue and Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in England and Wales. In April 2008, it additionally took on responsibility for serious complaints against UK Border Agency staff.^{[citation needed]}

The statutory powers and responsibilities of the commission were set out by the Police Reform Act 2002, and it came into existence on 1 April 2004, replacing the Police Complaints Authority. It was a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), funded by the Home Office, but by law entirely independent of the police, interest groups and political parties and whose decisions on cases are free from government involvement.

Between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2009 the IPCC used its powers to begin 353 independent and 759 managed investigations into the most serious complaints against the police. These included deaths in police custody, shootings and fatal traffic incidents.^{[citation needed]}