Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose from the police response to incidents reported as part of a neighbour dispute. The applicant and his neighbours made various reports about each other to the police over several years. The local authority anti-social behaviour team have also been involved. 

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

1. Police Scotland took insufficient action when the applicant reported that his neighbour had made abusive comments;
2. Two officers said that the applicant’s wife was ‘hormonal’;
3. Police Scotland took insufficient action when the applicant reported his neighbour for an alleged driving offence;
4. An officer did not carry out sufficient enquiry into an alleged assault; and
5. The applicant was charged with an offence relating to a neighbour dispute, despite that the applicant had reported numerous incidents previously.

Police Scotland's Decision

Police Scotland did not uphold the applicant’s complaints.

Our Findings

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

We have not made any recommendation in respect of the shortcomings we identified in the handling of complaint 2.   However, we have made a learning point about the administration of the complaint relating to record-keeping.

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

Outcome

Police Scotland implemented our Learning Point in relation to the complaint enquiry by sharing the learning with the Enquiry Officer and Inspector involved, who accepted the learning provided. 

Policing Bodies: Police Scotland