Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose after the applicant was arrested for a domestically aggravated offence alleged by his ex-partner. We have reviewed the handling of five complaints, namely that:

1. officers arrested the applicant in an aggressive and public manner;

2. officers arrested the applicant without sufficient evidence of a crime;

3. officers charged the applicant without sufficient evidence of a crime;

4. officers decided not to carry out any further investigation before charging the applicant; and

5. officers were reluctant to acknowledge the applicant’s concerns regarding the false allegations made against him.

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 and 2 to a reasonable standard but not so complaints 3, 4 and 5.

We have made three recommendations to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of the complaints. We recommend that further enquiries are carried out in relation to complaint 3 and that complaints 4 and 5 are reassessed in light of the observations made in our report. A further response should then be sent to the applicant. Our recommendations should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.

Police Bodies : Police Scotland