Cardiff, London, Sale and Wakefield. The IPCC's first chair was Nick Hardwick, appointed in December 2002 and taking office in February 2003; the IPCC existed in shadow form from 1 April 2003, and replaced the Police Complaints Authority on 1 April 2004. The IPCC's last chief executive was Lesley Longstone, who was responsible for running the organisation which supports the work of the commission. Kelly was also the IPCC's accounting officer and was accountable to the Home Office Principal Accounting Officer and to Parliament. Susan Atkins was appointed to be the first chief executive of the IPCC in 2003. As well as employing its own independent investigators to investigate the most serious cases, the IPCC had staff performing a number of other functions. Caseworkers handled the majority of complaints that were referred to the organisation. They recorded the details of the complaint and made an assessment of the case and recommend a method of investigation, which would then be passed to a Commissioner for sign off. They also assessed appeals from the public concerning the outcome of police decisions regarding complaints. The IPCC also took a lead role in developing new policy for the complaints system and for police practices. For example, following research about the circumstances into deaths following police activity on roads a new policy was drafted. This was adopted by ACPO and the government is making it law for police to follow. Commissioners The IPCC's seven operational commissioners and three non-operational commissioners were appointed by the Home Secretary for a five or three-year period. The chair was appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Home Secretary. Commissioners by law could not have served with the police at any time, been the chair or a member of SOCA at any time or been a commissioner or officer of Customs at any time. They were the public, independent face of the IPCC. The commission was the governing board of the IPCC, holding collective responsibility for governance of the commission including oversight of the Executive. As public office holders, commissioners oversaw IPCC investigations and the promotion of public confidence in the complaints system (known as Guardianship). Each commissioner also had responsibility for a particular portfolio such as firearms, deaths in custody, road policing and youth engagement. Commissioners in making decisions on individual cases acted under the delegated authority of the commission. All appointments, which were full-time and non-executive