I suspect Sussex Police is misleading the public in claiming only 26 of the 5,000-plus complaints it received last year were substantiated.
The rest, it says, were unsubstantiated, withdrawn or informally resolved. Informally resolved can cover a multitude of sins and it probably does.
Last summer, for example, I complained about the way a report of vandalism in Hurstpierpoint was dealt with. I had seen a youth systematically wrecking a park bench and rang the local police station with an immaculate description of the offender.
Some time later a policeman drove up, looked at the bench and the offender and drove away again.
Following my complaint, I received a visit from an inspector. He was smooth, charming and deeply apologetic and I agreed with his suggestion that the matter be taken no further. Nothing was put in writing by the police at any stage and undoubtedly they were able to categorise the incident as informally resolved. In a sense they were right, but given that they admitted their failure, the complaint was also clearly substantiated.
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