Report - Police Scotland - PIRC/00495/21
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose when Police Scotland arrested the applicant for an alleged offence of stalking and harassment.
We have reviewed the handling of six complaints, namely that:
on 08 September 2021 an officer was disrespectful when arresting the applicant by saying that she could arrest anyone she wants
the applicant was not given the opportunity to take his wheelchair or medication into custody as he was told he only had “half a minute” or he would be handcuffed.
whilst in custody, a sergeant did not call an ambulance when the applicant said that he had chest pains;
the applicant was not interviewed in relation to the matter he was arrested for;
the offence was not serious enough to merit the applicant being arrested and taken into police custody; and
Police Scotland failed to secure CCTV footage in relation to the applicant’s complaints.
Police Scotland’s Decision
Police Scotland did not uphold complaints 1 to 5 but upheld complaint 6.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland handled complaints 2, 4, 5 and 6 to a reasonable standard but not so complaints 1 and 3.
Consequently, we have made a single recommendation to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 3.
Our recommendation should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report
Police Bodies : Police Scotland