Our team is top-rated nationally for its work for clients who take actions against public authorities.
Anyone who has been treated badly may be able to take action against public authorities. You may have been discriminated against, assaulted, wrongly arrested, detained or prosecuted. You may have been stopped and searched or your house or car searched when this should not have happened. A loved one may have been killed by the police. Information may be held by the police about you that is inaccurate, irrelevant or simply unnecessary, or given by the police to others when they should not have done so. You may have been a victim of, or witness to, a crime and not been given an appropriate service by the police.
We have a long and successful history of bringing claims in these circumstances.
We have pioneered race discrimination cases against the police – ranging from stop and search cases to cases concerning deaths at the hands of the police. We also specialise in disability, sex, and gender orientation discrimination cases.
We have represented protestors, football fans who have been unfairly targeted on match days, and women subjected to domestic and sexual violence who have been failed by the police.
There are usually two routes for bringing a case against the police but they are often interlinked. One is to make a complaint against a police officer. Most complaints are initially investigated by the Police Professional Standards Departments. There may then be a right of appeal to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Another route is to threaten or issue a claim in the County or High Court. Cases can achieve financial compensation. For many of our clients, monetary compensation is not a significant motivating factor. We pursue disciplinary and criminal proceedings and we have been successful in obtaining admissions of wrongdoing and apologies from Chief Constables, face-to-face meetings with police, and changes in policy or practice and in how the officers are trained.
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