Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose after the applicant made a number of reports to the police. We have reviewed the handling of 5 complaints, namely that:

1. On 1 November 2018, the applicant’s mother reported to Police Scotland that her neighbour had spat into her car, however officers failed to take any action;
2. In relation to the incident above, it took officers four days to attend;
3. On 12 November 2018, the applicant’s mother reported to Police Scotland that her neighbour had damaged her car by deliberately slamming a wheelie bin into it, however despite having CCTV footage showing this, Police Scotland failed to take any action;
4. On 3 February 2019, the applicant’s wife contacted Police Scotland to report that she had seen the neighbour of the applicant’s mother staring in her front window, making gestures towards her and calling her ‘crazy’, however Police Scotland failed to take any action;
5. Police Scotland took 24 days to attend an incident reported by the applicant’s wife resulting in potential CCTV being lost. 

Police Scotland’s Decision

Police Scotland upheld complaints 3, 4, and 5 and did not uphold complaint 1 and 2.

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled complaints 1, 2, 4 and 5 to a reasonable standard but not so complaint 3. We made a recommendation to address an administrative issue in the recording of complaints 1 and 2. We have not made any recommendation in relation to complaint 3. Our recommendation should be completed by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.

Police Bodies : Police Scotland