A FORMER judge and coroner who served in the Falkland Islands has taken over the role of Independent Police Complaints Commission boss for Lancashire.

Carl Gumsley, 48, has responsibility for several forces in the North of England, including Lancashire Constabulary, as well as the National Crime Agency (NCA) and HMRC.

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Before joining the IPCC, Mr Gumsley served as Senior Magistrate (Resident Judge) and Coroner to the Falkland Islands, after working for several years as a barrister in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He was called to the Bar in 1989 and as a barrister he both defended and prosecuted, as a CPS Level Four Advocate and a member of the Rape Prosecutors’ Panel.

In 2008, Mr Gumsley was appointed as a Crown Court Recorder, assigned to the North Eastern Circuit, before he moved out to the Falkland Islands in 2011.

Mr Gumsley, who is married and has a 24-year-old stepdaughter, Emma, said he is looking forward to ‘getting stuck in’ to the role, and overseeing changes as the IPCC expands in size over the coming months.

He said: “I’m looking forward to trying to do my bit to improve where we can, and to play my part as what I see as a very important role.

“I want to improve confidence in the complaints procedure and in the police.

“I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

“Clearly there have been issues in recent months, issues within policing have come to light.

“We want to live in a society where we have policing by consent, so police should be doing the best possible job they can.

“Mistakes and deliberate actions by police and should be investigated properly and thoroughly.

“As part of getting and retaining confidence in police complaints should be investigated fully.”

He is currently dealing with between 25 and 30 cases, and has overseen some important investigations, including those that have come out of the Saville case, and investigations into deaths in custody or after police contact.

As commissioner Mr Gumsley said he will be overseeing significant changes, as the IPCC has been given extra resources to expand the organisation.

He said: “We hope to increase staffing by March, by 50 per cent, and we’re hoping to double the number of investigations, expanding our workload by 100 per cent.

“It will be a big change.”

The IPCC is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.

It can also elect to manage or supervise the police investigation into a particular complaint and will independently investigate the most serious cases itself.

While some of the IPCC’s investigators are former police officers, the commissioners themselves cannot have worked for the police by law.[4] It has set standards for police forces to improve the way the public’s complaints are handled.

The IPCC also handles appeals by the public about the way their complaint was dealt with by the local force, or its outcomes. The IPCC was given the task of increasing public confidence in the complaint system.

It aims to make investigations more open, timely, proportionate and fair.

Since April 2006 the IPCC has taken on responsibility for similar, serious complaints against HM Revenue and Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in England and Wales. In April 2008, it additionally took on responsibility for serious complaints against UK Border Agency staff.