Civil rights groups have welcomed a report calling for an independent inquiry into complaints against police in England and Wales.

The report, by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, says the existing Police Complaints Authority appears ill-equipped to act as an independent watchdog.

The Strasbourg-based committee claims there are "serious questions" about the independence and impartiality of the procedures used to process complaints about police misconduct.

It wants to re-open assault cases where victims have been compensated and officers have escaped charges.

Internal procedures

Under the current system complaints are dealt with by the Police Complaints Authority, but each force also has internal complaints and discipline teams.

The PCA supervises more than 900 grievances a year, which vary from rudeness to unlawful arrest and death in custody.

More serious complaints must, by law, be investigated. Usually the force involved or a neighbouring force will probe under the supervision of a PCA member.

The PCA has the option to approve informal disciplinary action, such as "advice" or "admonishment." In more serious cases a formal disciplinary hearing may recommend a range of punishments, from fines to dismissal from the service. Crimes such as theft and rape are handed by the Crown Prosecution Service.

But critics say a system in which police officers who come under suspicion are investigated by colleagues and disciplined behind closed doors is unacceptable. They point to the outcome of the Stephen Lawrence case, in which one officer was eventually found guilty of two trivial disciplinary charges

In his report on the Lawrence inquiry, Sir William Macpherson warned "investigation of police officers by their own or another police service is widely regarded as unjust and does not inspire public confidence".

Fundamental reform

The influential black policy think-tank 1990 Trust claims the current system is too institutionalised and there is a need for fundamental reform. In a report of its own, called Culture of Denial, due out in February, the group calls for an independent body that would work with police to ensure proper accountability.

"The police have too much control over their own affairs. We want to see a system with teeth which can make binding recommendations, including any sanctions against police officers which it feels necessary," says Lee Jasper, one of the report's authors.

He says many other countries already have independent systems in place, including Norway, New Zealand, and, in Australia, the states of Queensland and New South Wales.

'Serious doubt'

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture enforces the European convention for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, ratified by Britain in 1988, which binds 40 of the 41 member states of the Council of Europe.

Its remit is to safeguard the rights of prisoners and those in police custody. Its comments are regarded as influential, and governments are expected to take notice of its recommendations.

The committee wants an independent review of all civil claims for assault by police officers in the past two years that have resulted in compensation of £10,000 or more.

It says the findings of a visit by a delegation to England and Wales in September 1997 "cast serious doubt upon the efficacy of criminal and/or disciplinary proceedings as legal remedies for police misconduct".

Even though the findings of the delegation predate the Lawrence inquiry and its recommendations, the human rights group Amnesty says the criticisms are still valid almost three years on.

Decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute officers are now subject to review, but Amnesty maintains the way in which investigations are carried out hasn't changed.

It says it is unacceptable that while a member of the public who is accused of assault can expect the circumstances to be investigated by the police, the police are allowed to investigate and discipline themselves.

"We welcome the report and urge the government to implement its recommendations to create a system by which complaints against police are investigated impartially," says Jill Heine, the group's European legal advisor.

Both Amnesty and the 1990 Trust report that if anything they are receiving more complaints of alleged police brutality than they have in the past.

"It's as if the only police response to criticism is to re-exert their authority on the street," says Lee Jasper