Complaint Handling Reviews

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Report – Police Scotland – PIRC/00154/25

30 Sep 2025
Content

The Complaints

The complaint in this case arose after the applicant reported that his dog was attacked to the police. An officer contacted the applicant the following day to obtain details of the incident and then made contact with the local dog warden, who said he would deal with the matter. The applicant informed the dog warden that this was a matter for the police and was dissatisfied that this incident was not being investigated by them. We have reviewed the handling of four complaints, namely that: 

  1. An officer failed to take appropriate action in response to the applicant’s report about a ‘banned breed’ of dog.

  2. Police Scotland failed to impound a dog which was ‘dangerously out of control’ and alleged to be a ‘banned breed’.

  3. An officer failed to update the applicant; and

  4. An officer failed to consider whether a dog was microchipped.

Police Scotland's Decision

Police Scotland did not uphold any of the applicant’s complaints. 

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled complaint 4 to a reasonable standard but not so complaints 1, 2 and 3.

Consequently, we have made a single recommendation to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 2. In summary, we have recommended that Police Scotland conducts further necessary and proportionate enquiries into complaint 2. Police Scotland should thereafter provide a further response letter to the applicant, explaining whether the complaint is now upheld/not upheld and how the information available informed the conclusion reached.

We have also identified a learning point relative to Police Scotland’s administration of the complaints.

Our recommendation and learning point should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report. 

Police Bodies: Police Scotland

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