News

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) has found that in three police incidents the use of Tasers by specially trained officers (STOs) was both necessary and proportionate.

Five hundred STOs have been trained by Police Scotland in the use of Taser devices and were deployed from June 2018 onwards.

In light of the recent deployment of these officers, the PIRC investigated the initial incidents involving STOs and their use of Tasers.

• Taser
• Firearms

The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has today announced she will step down from her post when her five year term in office ends.

Commissioner Kate Frame was appointed in 2014, after the formation of the PIRC in April 2013.

• Commissioner
• Five years

A report by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has found that police took all reasonable steps to trace a 22-year-old man suffering from mental health issues who ran off while they were taking him home and died after lying down in front of a train.

The report, released today (Friday 25 January 2019), said the officers responded promptly and correctly followed guidelines within Police Scotland’s Mental Health and Place of Safety Standard Operating Procedures. 

• Death following police contact

A report by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has found that Police Scotland failed to record a report for concern for a 25-year-old vulnerable man who went missing and was later found dead.

• Police response
• Edinburgh

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) is investigating the police response to a 999 call from an injured man in Penicuik.

• 999 call
• Edinburgh

A Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) report has found that police were justified in their use of a Taser to arrest a man who they believed posed a threat to people inside his flat.

The 32-year-old was incapacitated by an armed officer using the Conductive Energy Device at the property in Dundee on 7 July 2018.

• Taser
• Firearms

The use of a baton round launcher by Police Scotland to help disarm a woman wielding an axe was necessary and proportionate, a report by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has found.

• Firearms

A report by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has found that a Police Scotland controller failed to pass accurate and relevant information to officers following a 999 report of a disturbance at a flat in Edinburgh, where a 51-year-old man was later found dead.

• death following police contact

The police response to a report of people being in a disused quarry prior to the death of a 28-year-old man was appropriate and proportionate, a report by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has found.

• death following police contact

The Police Investigations and Reviews Commissioner (PIRC) is investigating the use of an incapacitant spray, known as PAVA, on a 39 year old man in Fraserburgh on 16 November 2018.

• Fraserburgh
• Use of PAVA spray
• Police Scotland