Information about our appeals process

Hello Resident

Sometimes, we receive comments on our social media channels about the delay between the time of a suspected offence from occurring, to when the appeal has arrived on social media displaying the face of a suspect.  

I want to explain a bit as to why you may see a delay. The speed of the processes depends on how urgent the appeal is deemed to be. A more serious offence, such as a murder, rape or robbery is likely to sped up under different rules. However, routine appeals generally follow the same procedures, with different time frames.  

Firstly, the suspect will have been identified in the investigation by means of a digital display, whether CCTV, doorbell camera or the like.  

There are other enquiries and practices which must be completed as part of an investigation, which as you will understand, are not documented on social media.  

As we then must look at the proportionality before releasing an image, we need to consider any impact on the rights of the individual in terms of privacy. We need to remember that at the time of the appeal, they are only suspected to have committed an offence and still requires to give their version of the incident.  

As we reach this point, we must ensure that we exhausted all other ways of identification. We can’t just say: “They’re in the video – stick them on Facebook”. We have other methods to attempt to identify the suspect, including circulating the image to police colleagues within the force and to other police forces if required. 

Thank you

Dan