If you want to make a complaint against the police then seek advice and guidance from the people who know!

"Maintaining confidence in the accountability and integrity of the police is vital not only to successful policing but also to increasing public confidence in our police service. Part of that challenge is ensuring that the public are able to raise legitimate concerns with their police service and have a clear understanding of how they will be pursued".

Rt. Hon. Hazel Blears, MP

Prior to their retirement in 2008, Harry Stephenson was the Head of the Professional Standards and Legal Services Department in Durham Constabulary and Brian Dunn was the Head of the Professional Standards Dept in Cleveland Police.

They were responsible for investigations into complaints against police, honesty, integrity and anti corruption measures, working closely with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Now retired from the Police Force Harry and Brian advise members of the public who may wish to make a complaint against the Police. Their company is DST Investigation Consultancy Services Limited and operates nationally.

When employed by the Police as the heads of the Professional Standards Department our job was to ensure that officers and staff acted professionally and worked within the relevant legislation and code of conduct.

We continue to believe in that principle and consider that there is a lot of misunderstanding around the police complaints process and a lack of good professional advice available to members of the public.

The public have high expectations of the police and on occasions the service fails to maintain those expectations and when that does happen people have a legitimate right to expect the police to address those concerns and where appropriate learn from the experience.

With our extensive "Police Professional Standards" experience we are able to offer advice and guidance to assist people in working through the complaints process to its conclusion.

Because we know the law and Police processes intimately we are able to advise you whether or not you have a complaint against the police, the correct procedure to follow, how the complaint will proceed and what the most likely outcome will be.

We will assist with any documentation and at the conclusion of an investigation will review with the client the whole process to ensure they understand it and that the complaint has been dealt with correctly.

Clients can be confident in the knowledge that they are being advised and guided by two very experienced individuals who spent a number of years dealing with these very matters.

If you feel that the Police have behaved inappropriately and you are seeking advice and guidance about making a complaint against the police then please contact Harry or Brian at DST for a no obligation initial discussion via any of the methods listed here.