LONDON (Reuters):

Disciplinary hearings for police officers accused of serious neglect or incompetence will be heard in public for the first time, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said yesterday.

The police watchdog said it would use new powers to ensure cases involving officers accused of serious failings, such as those that led to death or serious injury, could be opened to victims, their relatives and the media.

Unlike for doctors or members of the armed forces, where serious disciplinary cases are open to the public, all hearings for police officers are currently conducted in private.

Police action criticised

The decision follows a number of cases where police action has been criticised and issues of public interest were not thoroughly dealt with in criminal trials or inquests.

"It's about maintaining public confidence in the system," an IPCC spokesman said.

The power has been available to the IPCC since 2004. However, details of the reforms were only agreed on recently after years of consultation.

Nick Hardwick, chairman of the commission, said the public hearings would not be used on a regular basis.

"It's an exceptional power," he told the Times newspaper. "We are not saying as a matter of course the police are going to find themselves in public."

Choked to death

No case has yet been earmarked for a public hearing, but Hardwick told the Times that the death of Christopher Alder was the type of case that could be opened to the public.

Alder, a black ex-soldier, choked to death on the floor of a police custody suite in Hull in April 1998, while officers ignored him.

Five police officers were acquitted of manslaughter and then cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal disciplinary hearing.

However, an IPCC investigation heavily criticised these hearings and ruled the officers were guilty of serious failings and "unwitting racism."