There are two main kinds of public inquiry – statutory and non-statutory. There are nonetheless precedents for public inquiries taking place alongside criminal investigations. How a public inquiry can affect an ongoing police investigationIrving said often when there is a large-scale public inquiry, the police will wait for it to conclude before making charging decisions, and there are a number of reasons for that. Wettone added that authorities would also be weighing up the question of what the objective of a public inquiry would be. “If it’s to apportion blame and to find who’s at fault, essentially your criminal investigation should be doing that anyway,” Wettone said.