When “Mistakes” Become Systemic: The Growing Crisis of Police Accountability

On 2 December 2025, a damning report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) into the tragedy of Hillsborough disaster found that 12 former officers would have faced gross-misconduct proceedings over their roles in the 1989 stadium crush, including failures in planning, crowd control, and a “concerted effort” to shift blame onto fans. Yet, because all those officers have since retired or died, none will ever face formal discipline. 

It’s a bitter injustice. For the families of the 97 people who died, the truth at long last is on record. But for decades many campaigned only to be dismissed, ignored and blamed. As one bereaved relative, Steve Kelly, whose brother was among the victims, said: “We should have truth, justice and accountability at least within a person’s lifetime.”

That single failure encapsulates a broader truth: for many victims, institutional failure is compounded by institutional evasion.

Broken Promises: How the System Continues to Fail Victims

It’s not just Hillsborough. In recent years, public scrutiny has exposed failures across the board, from flawed investigations of rape or stalking to miscarriages of justice and mishandled forensic work.

A report published in 2025 by the office of the Victims’ Commissioner found that out of over 3,000 crime victims surveyed, 73% do not feel confident that reporting a crime will lead to justice. Many described being repeatedly “left guessing” when investigations stall or police fail to follow up.

Similarly, systemic shortcomings in forensic and investigative resources have created fertile ground for miscarriages of justice. One recent legal review warned that expanding police-run forensic services, rather than independent labs, risks bias and “investigative failures leading to further injustices.”

In some of the worst cases, victims say the police didn’t just fail them; they actively ignored pleas for help. Take the case of Shana Grice, a young woman who was murdered by a man who had terrorised her and other women for years. Despite multiple harassment complaints, police inaction, and in some instances misjudgement and dismissal, set the stage for tragedy. Her parents denounced the official proceedings against the responsible officer as “a joke, and the hearing a sham.” 

Accountability Reform: Toothless or Too Late?

In response to mounting pressure, the government announced a package of reforms in October 2024 aimed at strengthening vetting, suspension protocols, and misconduct processes for police officers.

On paper, these changes, including a statutory basis for vetting and a presumption of dismissal in gross-misconduct cases, should mark progress. But critics are deeply sceptical. Advocates say the reforms now being pursued risk weakening, not strengthening, accountability: by embedding anonymity for firearms officers during trials, and giving officers arrested for wrongdoing a greater chance of evading public scrutiny while cases unfold. 

According to INQUEST, an organisation representing families bereaved by deaths in state custody or following police contact, this amounts to “a surrender by the government to police pressure,” further undermining public trust.

Voices of the Victims and the Call for Real Change

For those whose lives have been shattered by police failure, reforms, especially tepid or cosmetic ones, ring hollow.

As a solicitor working on behalf of Hillsborough families put it, while the naming of officers feels like “some recognition”, it is of “no consolation” if no one faces consequences.

And for victims of everyday crimes the message is clear: too often, there is neither justice nor reassurance. The Victims’ Commissioner’s report found that less than a fifth of domestic-abuse victims even report their experiences to police, partly because the system seems “ill-equipped to respond to the enormity of the challenge.” 

For these people, the difference between “protect and serve” and “neglect and dismiss” isn’t abstract; it’s painfully personal.

What Needs to Happen: Holding Power to Account

Truth, as the Hillsborough saga shows, matters. But truth without consequences perpetuates injustice. Real reform must include:

• Independent investigative and forensic bodies, detached from police oversight.
  
  
• Robust mechanisms to preserve accountability even when officers retire or resign.
  
  
• Guaranteed support and transparency for victims and families from first complaint through resolution.
  
  
• Stronger use of misconduct and criminal prosecution where warranted; not weak “learning outcome” responses.
  
  

Communities deserve policing that protects, not policing that protects itself. The public must demand a system that doesn’t just admit mistakes, but punishes them.

Because unless there is real accountability, institutional failure will always outlast the headlines.

Why It Matters

Because behind every statistic is a life. When police fail, whether through negligence, incompetence or conscious evasion, it’s ordinary people who pay the price. And when the state repeatedly refuses to hold itself to account, it sends a message: power is above accountability.

We need more than apologies, more than occasional investigations. We need a justice system that sees victims as deserving of dignity, thoroughness, and real consequences.

Image source: Al Jazeera