Complaint Handling Reviews

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Report - Police Scotland - PIRC/00292/21

25 Jan 2022
Content

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose following Police Scotland’s response to an incident reported by the applicant’s wife and a neighbour.

We have reviewed the handling of seven complaints, namely that:

  1. On 26 April 2021, after speaking with the applicant’s neighbours, Constable A attended at the applicant’s home and was unprofessional towards him;

  2. On the same date, Constable A and another police officer refused to give the applicant their names, with Constable A stating; “you don’t need my name, are you a police officer or something”;

  3. On the same date, police officers viewed the applicant’s CCTV footage but did not obtain a statement from him;

  4. On the same date, police officers failed to obtain a statement from the applicant’s wife;

  5. On the same date, Constable A considered using a Taser against the applicant, and a police inspector told the applicant that Constable A had said to him that the applicant was “lucky not to have been Tasered”;

  6. Police Scotland failed to update the applicant regarding the outcome of the incident on 26 April 2021; and

  7. A police sergeant failed to contact the applicant to provide him with an update following an agreement that a police inspector would speak with a police officer regarding his conduct.

Police Scotland’s Decision

Police Scotland upheld complaints 4 and 7, but did not uphold complaints 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled complaints 3, 4, 6 and 7 to a reasonable standard, but not so complaints 1, 2 and 5.  

Consequently, we have made two recommendations to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of complaints 1 and 5.

Our recommendations should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.

Police Bodies : Police Scotland

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