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Every force, ranked

Which police forces have their own complaint decisions overturned most often, and which almost never do.

Metropolitan Police Service: 36.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedCumbria Constabulary: 21.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedLancashire Constabulary: 15.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedMerseyside Police: 13.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedGreater Manchester Police: 35.6% of reviewed outcomes overturnedCheshire Constabulary: 9.1% of reviewed outcomes overturnedNorthumbria Police: 19.9% of reviewed outcomes overturnedDurham Constabulary: 23.4% of reviewed outcomes overturnedNorth Yorkshire Police: 23.3% of reviewed outcomes overturnedWest Yorkshire Police: 25.7% of reviewed outcomes overturnedSouth Yorkshire Police: 25.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedHumberside Police: 14.2% of reviewed outcomes overturnedCleveland Police: 37.9% of reviewed outcomes overturnedWest Midlands Police: 30.4% of reviewed outcomes overturnedStaffordshire Police: 16.1% of reviewed outcomes overturnedWest Mercia Police: 11.9% of reviewed outcomes overturnedWarwickshire Police: 34.4% of reviewed outcomes overturnedDerbyshire Constabulary: 10.3% of reviewed outcomes overturnedNottinghamshire Police: 19.9% of reviewed outcomes overturnedLincolnshire Police: 26.3% of reviewed outcomes overturnedLeicestershire Police: 6.9% of reviewed outcomes overturnedNorthamptonshire Police: 28.4% of reviewed outcomes overturnedCambridgeshire Constabulary: 22.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedNorfolk Constabulary: 14.3% of reviewed outcomes overturnedSuffolk Constabulary: 29.8% of reviewed outcomes overturnedBedfordshire Police: 14.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedHertfordshire Constabulary: 20.6% of reviewed outcomes overturnedEssex Police: 28.8% of reviewed outcomes overturnedThames Valley Police: 27.2% of reviewed outcomes overturnedHampshire Constabulary: 24.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedSurrey Police: 11.8% of reviewed outcomes overturnedKent Police: 18.6% of reviewed outcomes overturnedSussex Police: 11.9% of reviewed outcomes overturnedCity of London Police: no publishable rateDevon & Cornwall Police: 40.1% of reviewed outcomes overturnedAvon and Somerset Constabulary: 23.2% of reviewed outcomes overturnedGloucestershire Constabulary: 20.0% of reviewed outcomes overturnedWiltshire Police: 26.2% of reviewed outcomes overturnedDorset Police: 27.7% of reviewed outcomes overturnedNorth Wales Police: 22.6% of reviewed outcomes overturnedGwent Police: 30.2% of reviewed outcomes overturnedSouth Wales Police: 24.3% of reviewed outcomes overturnedDyfed-Powys Police: 21.3% of reviewed outcomes overturned
Under 10%10 to 18%18 to 26%26 to 34%Over 34%Not published

Each area links to that force. Shading shows the share of completed reviews that found the force's own complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate systems and are not shown.

Across every force that completed enough reviews to report, 24.5% of reviewed complaint outcomes were found not reasonable and proportionate. Sorted by complaints overturned on review.

All 44 forces, ranked

Rank byComplaints overturned on reviewReviews completedComplaints per 1,000 staffComplaint cases loggedSearches ending in no further actionStop and searches recordedStrip searchesBlack disproportionalityUse of force reportsUse of force, 5 year changeTaser discharge rateDeaths following police contactWorst ethnicity recordingForce name
#Police force Overturned on review▼Complaints per 1,000 staffNo further actionBlack ratioStrip searchesUse of forceTaser dischargedDeaths, 21 years
1Devon & Cornwall Police40.1%19869.9%—37318,8795.8%124
2Cleveland Police37.9%83284.7%——19,3666.9%45
3Metropolitan Police Service36.0%24767.5%3.1x—105,8896.5%382
4Greater Manchester Police35.6%511———51,3009.3%238
5Warwickshire Police34.4%46071.5%7.0x3354,6476.3%41
6West Midlands Police30.4%33069.8%—72048,6487.9%190
7Gwent Police30.2%240———5,9317.6%44
8Suffolk Constabulary29.8%12365.6%6.8x1714,7845.8%42
9Essex Police28.8%49570.9%3.3x—21,9688.1%78
10Northamptonshire Police28.4%42081.2%4.7x32810,6895.2%56
11Dorset Police27.7%457—9.1x2796,9836.4%42
12Thames Valley Police27.2%42474.5%4.2x1,03033,01312.9%102
13Lincolnshire Police26.3%53091.7%6.8x1245,30610.3%50
14Wiltshire Police26.2%51663.0%6.6x1748,44011.8%36
15West Yorkshire Police25.7%35067.0%2.9x1,58642,4868.9%183
16South Yorkshire Police25.0%25368.2%——19,2445.1%86
17South Wales Police24.3%43672.4%—1,76716,4238.9%104
18Hampshire Constabulary24.0%59668.0%6.2x1,42522,4697.3%91
19Durham Constabulary23.4%38066.5%—4911,74618.1%42
20North Yorkshire Police23.3%375—4.0x—11,7086.5%49
21Avon and Somerset Constabulary23.2%42663.4%4.3x59619,38310.0%86
22North Wales Police22.6%18073.4%—1228,6817.1%42
23Cambridgeshire Constabulary22.0%40666.5%5.8x—11,0402.6%36
24Dyfed-Powys Police21.3%397——05,8399.2%40
25Cumbria Constabulary21.0%51376.6%——11,7546.0%38
26Hertfordshire Constabulary20.6%33074.4%4.6x—13,5803.7%52
27Gloucestershire Constabulary20.0%53865.4%4.4x—8,5944.7%37
28Northumbria Police19.9%54674.2%2.1x1,65328,66017.0%103
29Nottinghamshire Police19.9%41766.9%5.5x1,24619,3699.5%55
30Kent Police18.6%49765.2%2.5x14319,44410.1%97
31Staffordshire Police16.1%47562.4%—23810,5795.2%86
32Lancashire Constabulary15.0%31878.7%4.1x—28,90910.0%97
33Norfolk Constabulary14.3%10963.5%9.2x977,7238.7%45
34Humberside Police14.2%42874.1%3.5x30817,9747.3%58
35Bedfordshire Police14.0%40572.8%3.5x—6,9704.4%40
36Merseyside Police13.0%32577.3%2.6x3,78420,6586.6%89
37Sussex Police11.9%38359.2%8.2x45218,9487.0%113
38West Mercia Police11.9%42965.4%7.9x—11,1556.1%78
39Surrey Police11.8%60267.9%7.7x—10,6218.1%56
40Derbyshire Constabulary10.3%45671.8%5.5x31716,2706.0%54
41Cheshire Constabulary9.1%40374.2%5.8x38513,2194.1%61
42British Transport8.3%164—————13
43Leicestershire Police6.9%362—5.8x30414,3864.7%50
—City of London Police—35575.3%10.6x932,9634.0%3
Method. Every column is computed from published data and every one is sortable. Review outcomes and complaint volumes are from the IOPC's statistics for England and Wales; a force is ranked on review outcomes only where it completed at least 30 reviews, because a percentage on a handful of cases is noise. Stop and search, strip searches and ethnicity recording are from data.police.uk, calculated only over records where the relevant field was actually completed. Use of force and Taser figures are Home Office statistics for 2024/25, with the five year change measured from 2020/21. The Black ratio compares a force's share of searches to the share of people resident in that force's own area at the 2021 Census, and is omitted where the group is under 0.5% of residents or the force does not record ethnicity well enough; the denominator debate is set out in full here. Deaths are the IOPC's annual series from 2004/05 and are counts, not rates: a larger or busier force may record more without that implying anything about conduct. A dash means the force did not publish that measure.