The Food Crime Officers (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2025

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 26E(1), (2) and (6) and 105(4) and (5) of the Police Reform Act 20021. In accordance with section 24 of that Act2, the Secretary of State has consulted with the Independent Office for Police Conduct3, the Director General, such persons as appear to the Secretary of State to represent the views of police and crime commissioners, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, the Common Council, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and such other persons as the Secretary of State thinks fit. In accordance with section 63(3)(b) of the Police Act 19964, the Secretary of State has supplied a draft of these Regulations to the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales and has taken into account its representations before making these Regulations.

PART 1 Introductory

1. Citation, commencement and extent (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Food Crime Officers (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 1st May 2025. (2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.
2. Interpretation (1) In these Regulations— “2002 Act” means the Police Reform Act 2002; “chief executive” means the chief executive of the FSA; “chief officer” means the chief officer of police of any police force; “complainant” means— (a) in the case of a complaint falling within regulation 10(1)(d), the person on whose behalf the complaint was made; (b) in the case of a complaint not falling within regulation 10(1)(d), the person by whom the complaint was made; but where any person is acting on another’s behalf for the purposes of any complaint, anything that is to be, or that may be, done under these Regulations by, or in relation to, the complainant may be done by, or in relation to, the person acting on the complainant’s behalf; “complaint” has the meaning given by regulation 10(1) and includes a purported complaint; “conduct” includes acts, omissions, statements and decisions (whether actual, alleged or inferred) by an officer, whilst on duty, and acting or operating under powers in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 or the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in their capacity as an officer; “conduct matter” has the meaning given by regulation 10(2)(a); “death or serious injury matter” and “DSI matter” have the meaning given by regulation 10(2)(b); “Director General” means the Director General of the Office; “disciplinary proceedings” means any proceedings or management process during which the conduct of an officer is considered in order to determine whether a sanction or punitive measure should be imposed against that person in relation to that conduct; “document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded; “FSA” means the Food Standards Agency; “FSA friend” means a person chosen under regulation 51(2); “information” includes estimates and projections, and statistical analyses; “information notice” has the meaning given in regulation 68(1); “interested person” means a person who has an interest in being kept properly informed about the handling of a complaint, conduct matter or DSI matter in accordance with regulation 60; “Office” means the Independent Office for Police Conduct; “officer” means, unless the context otherwise requires, a food crime officer, and for this purpose “food crime officer” has the meaning given in section 114C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 2004; “person complained against”, in relation to a complaint, means the person whose conduct is the subject matter of the complaint; “person concerned” has the meaning given in regulation 49(9); “person investigating”, in relation to a complaint, recordable conduct matter or DSI matter, means the person appointed or designated to investigate that complaint or matter; “recordable conduct matter” means a conduct matter that is required to be recorded by the chief executive under regulation 18 or 19, or which has been so recorded; “relevant document” means a document relating to any complaint or matter under investigation (and includes a document containing suggestions as to lines of inquiry to be pursued or witnesses to be interviewed), but this definition does not apply in relation to regulation 72; “relevant offence” means— (a) an offence for which the sentence is fixed by law; or (b) an offence for which a person aged 18 years or over, who has not previously been convicted, may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of seven years or more (or might be so sentenced but for the restrictions imposed by section 33 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980); “relevant statement” means an oral or written statement relating to any complaint or matter under investigation; “serious injury” means a fracture, a deep cut, a deep laceration or an injury causing damage to an internal organ or the impairment of any bodily function; “severity assessment” means, in relation to conduct, an assessment as to— (a) whether the conduct, if proved, would amount to misconduct that is so serious as to justify disciplinary action or gross misconduct; and (b) if the conduct were to become the subject of disciplinary proceedings, the form which those proceedings would be likely to take. (2) References in these Regulations to a “member of the public”, in relation to any conduct or anything purporting to be a complaint about any conduct, do not include references to an officer. (3) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person is adversely affected if that person suffers any form of loss or damage, distress or inconvenience, if that person is put in danger or if that person is otherwise unduly put at risk of being adversely affected. (4) References in these Regulations to the investigation of any complaint or matter by the chief executive, under the direction of the Director General, or by the Director General are to be construed as references to the Director General’s investigation in accordance with— (a) regulation 42 (investigations by the chief executive on the chief executive’s own behalf); (b) regulation 43 (investigation by a police force or the National Crime Agency under the direction of the Director General); (c) regulation 44 (investigations directed by the Director General); or (d) regulation 45 (investigations by the Director General).