Report - Police Scotland - PIRC/00349/21
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose from Police Scotland’s response to reports made by the applicant and his ex-partner about each another.
We have reviewed the handling of six complaints, namely that:
On 27 August 2018, Police Scotland failed to investigate an allegation made by the applicant that he was threatened, by failing to view CCTV footage which resulted in him being arrested;
On 1 September 2018, police officers failed to take any action when the applicant was threatened by a named female;
On 27 November 2018, police officers submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal that the applicant had stolen a laptop, despite there being insufficient evidence to support the charge because the applicant had provided an explanation to the police about his movements that day;
On 9 December 2018, police officers failed to take any action when a named male threatened to shoot the applicant;
On 1 February 2019, the applicant lost his job because police officers attended at his workplace to arrest him; and
Police officers arrested the applicant on a Friday which resulted in him being detained in police custody over the weekend.
Police Scotland’s Decision
Police Scotland upheld complaints 1 and 2, but did not uphold complaints 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland handled the applicant’s complaints to a reasonable standard.
Nonetheless, we have made a recommendation to address a shortcoming in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 2. We have also identified a learning point in respect of an administrative shortcoming.
Our recommendation and learning point should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Police Bodies : Police Scotland