Media commentators and politicians have been celebrating the recent Rotherham convictions as a sign that we are finally getting to grips with grooming. The long sentences handed down to the perpetrators are certainly welcomed. We are also being told that public officials will be held to account as an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation is looking into the conduct of police officers. In reality, an IPCC investigation is wholly inadequate and inappropriate: 1. The IPCC will only focus on police officers. What about the councillors who hampered investigations or visited ‘brothels’, or the social care managers who arbitrarily removed children from the ‘at risk’ register to help meet budgetary or performance targets? Any investigation into the conduct of public officials must look at all public officials who were directly involved. 2. The IPCC has a history of whitewashing investigations. The IPCC’s tract record does not fill me with confidence, they have a shameful record of long drawn-out investigations that rarely result in meaningful outcomes for victims. A recent BBC investigation found that in a three-year window 38 police officers took early retirement (with full pensions) whilst being investigated by the IPCC, many of these case were in high-profile cases. This effectively rendered the IPCC investigations useless and allowed the officers to walk away scot-free without even having to cooperate with the investigation. 3. Misconduct in Public Office is a criminal offence, so why should police officers only face an IPCC disciplinary procedure. The police should not be above the law, where an independent enquiry like Prof Jay’s uncovers evidence of criminality, those suspects should be arrested and investigated.