Police Complaints Board
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| Abbreviation | PCB |
|---|---|
| Formation | June 1977 |
| Legal status | Former non-departmental public body |
| Purpose | Complaints about the English and Welsh police forces |
Region served | England & Wales |
Parent organization | Home Office |
The Police Complaints Board (PCB) was the British government organisation tasked with overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales from 1 June 1977 until it was replaced by the Police Complaints Authority on 29 April 1985.
Like its replacement, the Police Complaints Authority, its successor the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and the present Independent Office for Police Conduct, the Police Complaints Board was operationally independent of the British police.
Until the creation of the PCB in June 1977, complaints against police officers were handled directly by the forces concerned, although the Home Secretary could refer a serious complaint to another police force for investigation under a mechanism set out in Section 49 of the Police Act 1964. The investigating force would forward a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who could decide to prosecute the offending policemen.
Following a series of scandals involving the Metropolitan Police in the mid-1970s, and criticism of a perceived lack of independence in the existing process, the Police Complaints Board was created by the Police (Complaints) Act 1976.[1]
