Civil Actions
Against the Police
We are an approved specialist provider in this area
of work. We hold a Legal
Aid Franchise to provide advice.
The category is fairly wide ranging and not only includes
claims/complaints against the Police but also claims
against other public authorities including the Crown
Prosecution Service, the
Prison Service (The Home Office), the Magistrates’
Court service, the Probation
Service and private security firms.
The areas in which you can sue the police remain limited
under English Law. The most usual claims brought will
be a combination or the following areas:
- Assault
- False
Imprisonment
- Malicious
Prosecution
- Other
areas
- Alternative
to Civil Claims for Damages
1. Assault
To succeed in a claim for assault it will be necessary
for you to prove that the police, in detaining you,
used an unreasonable level of force. The police are
entitled by law to use a reasonable degree of force
appropriate to the circumstances they are in. They are
not entitled to use excessive force and if they do so
they are open to be criticised that they have assaulted
you. An Assault can also include being bitten by police
dog.
Each case must be looked at on its individual basis
to assess whether the use of force was appropriate and
reasonable in the circumstances.
We can provide that assessment for you.
2. False Imprisonment
To establish a claim for False Imprisonment it will
be necessary to prove that the police had no reasonable
information to suspect you of having committed an offence
and to detain you in relation to that offence. It is
not for the police to decide whether you are guilty
or not. It is for them to decide whether there is a
criminal case that should be put before the court to
decide whether you are guilty or not.
If there was no reasonable information then the arrest
can be challenged as unlawful and if successfully challenged
you will be awarded damages based on the time spent
in custody i.e from the point of arrest to the point
of release.
It does not follow automatically that if you are found
not guilty at trial or a case against you is dropped
that you will have a claim for false imprisonment or
indeed malicious prosecution.
3. Malicious Prosecution
In order to succeed in your claim for malicious prosecution
it will be necessary for you to establish that the primary
motive in pursuing the prosecution was something other
than the interests of justice. In short you must prove
that the police had a wrongful motive in prosecuting
you.
A civil claim for damages against a police force or
other public authority will be brought in either the
High Court or the County Court. If the case does not
settle before a trial then the case will be heard before
a judge (or in the case of false imprisonment and malicious
prosecution a judge and jury) to determine whether the
police are liable to you for damages.
In order to succeed in a civil claim and be awarded
damages for the assault, false imprisonment and malicious
prosecution, it will be necessary for you to prove the
claims on the balance of probabilities against the officers
of the police i.e. is it more likely than not.
Should you succeed in your assault, false imprisonment
and malicious prosecution claims, then you would be
entitled to an award of damages to compensate for your
injuries and time detained.
Assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution
claims are not limited to merely the police. It is entirely
possible to pursue such claims against the other public
authorities (and indeed private individuals) should
it be established that they, rather than the police,
were the cause of your complaint.
4. Other Areas
We can also assist in claims/complaints against the
police for trespass, damage caused to goods, the confiscation
of property including motor vehicles, negligence claims,
deaths in custody or other misconduct issues in a public
office.
Each type of complaint may be successful concluded
by correspondence without the need to go to court.
5. Funding
Legal Aid is available to pursue complaints and claims
against the police and other public authorities for
assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
To obtain a funding certificate for court proceedings
there is a two fold test. The first part is an income
based test to see whether your income qualifies you
for funding. We will give you an initial assessment
on that at our first meeting. The second part of the
test is a merit test to assess whether your claim is
strong enough to warrant use of the public fund. It
is for us as a firm to advise the Legal Services Commission
on this element.
Pursuing these difficult cases is always preferable
with the benefit of Legal Aid to cover your costs liability
however should you not qualify for Legal Aid whether
financially or because the Legal
Services Commission are not persuaded of the merits
of your claim then we will consider other funding options
with you including “No Win No Fee” agreements.
6. Alternative to Civil Claims for Damages
In a number of circumstances, a claim for damages may
not be appropriate for your complaint against the police.
There is another avenue of complaint open to you should
you wish to complain about the conduct of individual
officers.
Each police force in the country will have a disciplinary
and complaint unit to deal with complaints against their
officers. These complaint will be supervised by the
Police Complaints Authority which is an independent
body which overseas all complaints and reports it’s
decision on the complaints when the investigation by
the police force into the complaint is concluded.
The Police
Complaints Authority, if it upholds your complaint,
can recommend that the officers involved face disciplinary
charges in a hearing before the Chief Constable of the
force. This route if successful will cause the actual
officers involved to be punished. This is different
to the civil claims for damages where it is the police
force itself that is liable and has to pay damages in
a successful claim not the individual officers.
Contact
Please contact Mark Lees at the office on 0161 831
7788 for an initial free assessment of your complaint.
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