When you are under investigation, whether subject to bail conditions or not, the wait to find out whether you are going to be charged with an offence can be a lengthy and stressful one.
Officer in the Case (OIC)
The person that can provide you with information about when a decision can be expected is the investigating officer – also known as the OIC or Officer in the Case.
Contacting the OIC can be a challenging process. Police officers work shift patterns across all seven days of the week during the day and through the night. As a result, their working days are anything but the traditional Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. Therefore to contact the police by telephone can be a challenging exercise and no mean feat. Therefore, it is often a good idea to contact the OIC by email because they can respond when they are next on duty and you will also have a record of the attempts you have made to contact them. We have found that by emailing police officers, if they are off duty, some of them utilise the out of office which helps us in terms of expectation as to when we can receive a response. It is hoped this will become common practice as time passes.
Call 101
If, despite sending emails, you are still being met with no response, then the next route is to contact 101 and go through to the relevant police force and then through to the operator. You will need to provide them with your details along with the full name, warrant number (if you have it) and location of the officer. If they cannot put you through directly, then they can pass on a message to the officer and in any event a log will be created of the call that you have made to the police.
Beyond this, if you are still not having any success, contacting the OIC, then the next occasion that you contact 101 you can ask for the contact details of the OIC’s supervising officer who may be able to assist you.
It is acknowledge that the police have very significant demands on their time. That being said the challenges that we face contacting officers has been significant and often frustrating. Our top tip is to utilise email and 101.
Legal disclaimer: Articles are intended as an introduction to the topic and do not constitute legal advice. The information contained herein is accurate at the date of publication but please note that the law is ever changing and evolving. If you require advice in relation to any matter raised in this article please contact a member of the team.