11 Dealing with the Police
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2. If you have a problem with the police
3. If you are stopped and searched
4. Your options for taking action
6. How to sue the police
If you have read about the 'causes of action' and you think you have a reason to sue the police, there are several other things you need to know before you can consider taking legal action. Remember, though, that to sue the police, you will need help from a legal adviser who specialises in such cases (see ´Further help´ for more information).
There are time limits for bringing a case, which are different for different types of case.But you should not wait until just before you reach the time limit to start your case. It is best to get advice on your case as quickly as you can, while events are fresh in your memory and in any witnesses' memories. The time limits are as follows:
- If you are bringing a claim against the police for racial discrimination, you should start your action within six months. (If you are employed by the police and your claim relates to your employment, the time limit is three months.)
- If your case is under the Human Rights Act, the time limit will depend on the type of action you are taking. If you are applying for 'judicial review' (where you ask a judge to decide whether the police have acted illegally), you should start your case, at the latest within three months of when you first knew about the problem. Otherwise, the time limit is one year.
- If you are claiming compensation from the police for negligently injuring you, you have to start court proceedings within three years of the day you were injured.
- If your claim is for malicious prosecution, the time limit of six years will run from the day you won your original case.
- For all other cases, you have to start court proceedings within six years.
For most types of case you should try to give the police at least three months' notice that you plan to start a case against them, unless doing this would put you outside one of these time limits. This is because you must give the police enough time to respond to your claim.
Who do I sue?
You would normally sue the Chief Constable of the police force of the officer you think was responsible. In London you'd sue the Metropolitan Police Commissioner or the Commissioner of the City of London Police. You could sue the police officer if you wanted but this may make reaching a settlement more difficult.
Who will decide on my case?
If your claim is for false imprisonment or malicious prosecution, you have the right to have your case decided by a judge and a jury, unless the jury would have to study a lot of documents as part of the evidence or decide on complicated medical issues. You or your solicitor must ask for a jury trial at the correct time. Other cases are decided by a judge.
How much compensation can I expect to win?
In a case decided by a jury, the jury decides how much compensation you should get, although the judge will give them guidance on how much it should be. In other cases, the judge decides.
It is not easy to predict how much compensation you will win. Each case is different and the judge's or jury's decision will depend on the evidence they have heard. However, the Court of Appeal has given some idea of how much compensation you should get in false imprisonment and malicious prosecution claims.
- For false imprisonment, you should expect to get at least £600. If you are falsely imprisoned for 24 hours, the amount should be £3,500.
- For malicious prosecution, you should expect to get at least £2,400. If the prosecution goes on for two years, the amount should be £11,000.
If the circumstances of your case are particularly bad, a judge or jury can award 'aggravated damages' on top of the basic compensation. For example, they may do this if:
- the circumstances of your arrest were especially humiliating; or
- the police were insulting or offensive to you either at the time or in the way that they defended your case;
- the police acted up to cover up their own wrongdoing; or
- the police failed to apologise or acted unreasonably in defending your case.
Aggravated damages should be at least an extra £1,000, but they shouldn't usually be more than twice the basic compensation.
In some cases a judge or jury may award 'exemplary damages'. These are meant to punish the police when they have behaved very badly. For example, this would be if they:
- lied when they gave evidence; or
- subjected you to sexist or racist abuse.
Exemplary damages should be at least £5,000, but no more than £50,000. When you add together basic, aggravated and exemplary damages, the total should not normally be more than three times the basic compensation.
In addition you can claim 'special damages'. This is compensation for loss you have suffered as a direct result of the incident which led to your claim. Examples of this loss are lost earnings following an assault by the police in which you were injured, or the cost of past and future medical treatment.
You won't always get compensation if your claim is under the Human Rights Act.
7. Making a complaint against a police officer
9. The result of your complaint
This leaflet is published by the Legal Services Commission (LSC). It was written in association with Liberty.
The leaflets are regularly updated but the law may have changed since they were printed so the information in them may be incorrect or out of date.
Leaflet Version: August 2006
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