Humberside Police's outgoing chief constable has hit out at plans to strengthen the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which would involve taking away resources from individual forces.
Tim Hollis claims the plans announced by Home Secretary Theresa May are "poorly thought out and would not achieve what is intended".
Mrs May is planning to strengthen the IPCC with a raid on forces' professional standards units to allow the commission to increase the amount of cases it investigates.
Last year the IPCC, which oversees the police complaints system in England and Wales, investigated just 130 out of the 2,100 serious or sensitive cases referred to it independently. Individual forces investigated the rest.
Earlier this month, the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) raised concerns about the number of retired police officers in the IPCC.
Mr Hollis, who is due to retire at the end of next month after eight years with the force, said: "The HASC criticised the IPCC for employing too many retired police officers. They recommend reducing the number from 30 per cent to 20 per cent. And remember, they only employ retired police officers.
"Now the Home Secretary appears to be proposing not only to increase the numbers of policeâ¨in the IPCC but to transfer in serving officers. How does that add up?"
