Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose as a result of Police Scotland’s investigation into an assault on the applicant’s husband. We have reviewed the handling of six complaints, namely that:

1. After the applicant’s husband was assaulted, the police asked for the clothes he was wearing to be kept as potential evidence, but the items of clothing were not collected by officers;
2. The perpetrator of the assault on the applicant’s husband was released from police custody within 12 hours of the incident and allowed to return to his address close to the victim’s home;
3. The applicant was not informed that the perpetrator of the assault on her husband had been released from police custody;
4. The applicant was told that someone would contact her husband to discuss the severity of the assault and his injuries, but no police officer called to provide an update on proceedings;
5. The applicant called a local police station to report alleged breaches of bail conditions by the perpetrator of the assault on her husband, but no one from Police Scotland called her back to discuss this; and
6. Police Scotland reported the offence as a minor rather than a serious assault. 

Police Scotland’s Decision

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

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled the applicant’s complaints to a reasonable standard.

Police Bodies : Police Scotland