Police Co-operation and CICA Claims

A key factor in the success of CICA claims is an applicant’s co-operation with the police regarding their incident.

It is not uncommon for applicants to become confused about what this means and it is often the case that the foundation for co-operation has been set in stone before clients even seek to claim.

Under paragraph 23 of the CICA scheme, all applicants must cooperate with the police as far as reasonably practicable in bringing their assailants to justice.

How do applicants co-operate with the police?

• Reporting an incident as soon as ‘reasonably practicable’ – although this is a general statement, the CICA do support that this should be within 48 hours of an incident happening. Please note – an incident must be formally reported to satisfy this requirement. A useful indicator of whether this has happened is whether applicants have been provided with a crime reference number.
• Willingly providing a formal statement about the incident when asked – this usually happens at the time of reporting however the CICA do appreciate that some injuries, like a fractured jaw, may prevent an applicant from providing this sooner.
• Answering all questions from the police as honestly and in as much detail as possible – applicants should answer every question from the police, this includes when applicants do not know who their attacker was. Any information to assist the police should be provided and any resistance to do so will not be received positively.
• Pressing charges where able to do so – applicants should always press charges when asked by the police. Dropping any charges will be seen as non-co-operation by the CICA because this does not bring assailants to justice.
• Completing all of the above in the first instance – some applicants are understandably scared or unsure of what they want to do in terms of police involvement. However even if an applicant goes against any of the above points and then changes their mind in the future, the CICA can still take issue with this in their claim. This is because if the CICA believe that if not for the applicants hesitation to fully co-operate their assailant could have been apprehended, the CICA will judge the applicant to have prejudiced the police investigation and as such to have not co-operated.

What happens if I submit a CICA claim but I haven’t fully co-operated with the police?

In some circumstances, for instance reporting an incident, the CICA will ask for reasons why an applicant has failed to report an incident within 48 hours of an incident. Applicant’s will then have the opportunity to provide their reasons to the CICA.

However, the CICA usually will only accept exceptional circumstances as viable reasons for this, simply being nervous to do so or busy is not sufficient. If an applicant cannot provide this substantial reasoning, their claim would fail for non-cooperation.

Whereas if the applicant has informed the police they do not wish to provide a statement and refuse to support action against their assailant, the CICA will reject the claim for non-cooperation with the police.

Can I challenge a rejection for non-cooperation with the police?

It can be attempted but is not guaranteed to be successful. As a government organisation the CICA will generally always take the word of the police above any applicant. This means if the police report is clear that an applicant has not co-operated in a more severe manner (for instance dropping charges and refusing to provide a statement) then the CICA are extremely unlikely to change their decision.

To consider attempting to challenge this type of rejection, applicants need to be realistic and honest about their own conduct with the police. It is not worth applying for a review of the decision when there is no merit for this, even if an applicant is particularly frustrated with the CICA’s decision.

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