Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose after the applicant after the applicant reported to Police Scotland that she had been sexually and physically assaulted by an ex-partner.  We have reviewed the handling of one complaint, namely that:

1.    proper records have not been kept as to when USBs and the data contained on them had been accessed since the applicant provided them to police;

Police Scotland's Decision

Police Scotland did not uphold this complaint.

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland did not handle the applicant’s complaint to a reasonable standard. 

Consequently, we have made a recommendation and identified a learning point to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of the complaint. In summary, we recommend that Police Scotland provides the applicant with a further response, which clearly explains the storage and access arrangements of data and considers whether those are sufficient to ensure compliance with the Information SOP. 

We identified a learning point for Detective Chief Inspector C regarding the appointment of complaint enquiry staff who had prior involvement in an applicant’s complaint

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

Outcome

Police Scotland implemented a recommendation and a learning point made in our review. In doing so, Police Scotland carried out further necessary enquiries, including seeking further accounts from a number of officers and reviewing a number of relevant documents on Police Scotland systems. The applicant was then provided with a detailed further response which addressed the applicant’s complaint. Police Scotland also reminded senior complaint handling staff of the importance of appointing staff to complaint enquiries who have had no prior involvement in the complaint.

Police Bodies: Police Scotland