Report – Police Scotland – PIRC/00124/25
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose after a third party was arrested in a licensed premise following an altercation with the applicant and his colleague, who were both serving police officers at the time. We have reviewed the handling of seven complaints, namely that:
on 14th December 2019, officers obtained a witness statement from the applicant while he was intoxicated through alcohol;
on the same date, officers allowed a witness to the assault on the applicant to be present while his statement was obtained;
on 14th December 2019 and thereafter, officers failed to obtain and/or document injuries to the applicant’s person as a result of him being assaulted;
officers failed to obtain a supplementary statement from the applicant covering the events of 14th December 2019 when he was sober;
the Standard Prosecution Report referencing the incident on 14th December 2019 contained inaccuracies and made reference to events not detailed in the applicant’s statement;
an officer personally retained the CCTV footage in his personal drawer and did not follow correct procedure in formally lodging this as a production; and
an officer showed other officers unconnected to the enquiry footage of the incident on 14th December.
Police Scotland's Decision
Police Scotland did not uphold any of the applicant’s complaints.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland handled complaints 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 to a reasonable standard, but not so complaints 2 and 6.
Consequently, we have made two recommendations and a learning point to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of the applicant’s complaints. In summary, we recommend that Police Scotland undertake further enquiry, reassess the complaints and provide the applicant with a further response.
Our recommendations should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Police Bodies: Police Scotland