Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints 

The complaints in this case arose following officers’ attendance at the applicant’s home which resulted in the applicant being arrested, taken into police custody, and charged with assault and acting in a threatening or abusive manner. We have reviewed the handling of six complaints, namely that: 

1. The applicant was not officially arrested under section 1 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, or cautioned at the time of her arrest;

2. The male officer noted the registration numbers of the applicant’s car and the cars belonging to the applicant’s sons which were in her driveway, even though this had no bearing on the incident;

3. The applicant was held in custody for three hours for a minor offence which was also her first offence, which she believes was an excessive amount of time;

4. The undertaking process was not properly explained to the applicant;

5. The report that was sent to the Procurator Fiscal contained incorrect information. The report stated that the applicant answered the door and told officers that she had been waiting for them when in fact it was her son who answered the door; and

6. The report that was sent to the Procurator Fiscal contained incorrect information. It stated that the applicant was charged within her house when she was arrested, but in fact she was charged in the cell at a police station. 

Police Scotland’s Decision

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

Our Findings

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

Police Bodies : Police Scotland