West Midlands Police Authority Standards Committee Assessment Criteria

1. The Standards Committee has agreed that the Referrals Sub-Committee and the Review Sub-Committee will apply the following criteria in assessing a complaint of an alleged breach of the Members' Code of Conduct and deciding what action to take, if any:-

• 1. Has the complainant submitted enough information to satisfy the Referrals Sub-Committee that the complaint should be referred for investigation or other action?
• 2. Is the complaint about someone who is no longer a member of the Police Authority but is a member of another authority? If so, does the Referrals Sub-Committee wish to refer the complaint to the Monitoring Officer of that other authority?
• 3. Has the complaint already been the subject of an investigation or other action relating to the Code of Conduct? Similarly, has the complaint been the subject of an investigation by other regulatory authorities?
• 4. Is the complaint about something that happened so long ago that there would be little benefit in taking action now?
• 5. Is the complaint sufficiently serious to warrant further action?
• 6. Does the complaint appear to be simply malicious, politically motivated or tit-for tat?

2. In addition to the above criteria the Review Sub-Committee will consider any new information that may have become available since the initial decision of the Referrals Sub-Committee.

John Polychronakis, Monitoring Officer, West Midlands Police Authority, 9th June 2008