The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales which, since 8 January 2018, is responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.
Most allegations of police misconduct are investigated by police forces' own professional standards departments (with oversight by the IOPC). However the IOPC does conduct independent investigations of serious allegations of misconduct or criminal offences by police officers and other law enforcement officers. 'Mandatory' referrals are usually made to the IOPC should a person die or sustain serious injuries following police contact.
Additionally, a force's professional standards department may also make a 'voluntary' referral – in which a force will ask the IOPC to consider if they wish to investigate independently, supervise a force professional standards investigation, or decline and refer the investigation back to the force to investigate without any IOPC input. The office received over 4300 referrals from police forces and completed about 700 investigations in the 2019/20 year.
