Report – Police Scotland – PIRC/00640/22
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose following the applicant’s arrest as a result of filming a police station, and having been wrongly identified as having been another individual who would have been in breach of bail conditions by having done so. We have reviewed the handling of five complaints, namely that:
- Officers challenged the applicant for filming outside a police station;
- Officers arrested the applicant under section 13 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, despite there being no power for them to have done so;
- Officers acted improperly by retaining the applicant’s car keys whilst he was in police custody in order to trace his car, which was parked nearby, to obtain his details;
- Officers required the applicant to sit in a police van for an hour before being taken into the police station; and
- Officers held the applicant in custody for four hours whilst they conspired to charge him with unfounded and trumped up charges.
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 1, 2 and 4 to a reasonable standard but not so complaints 3 and 5.
Consequently, we have made two recommendations to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 3 and 5. In summary, we recommend that Police Scotland reassess the available information and provide the applicant with a well-reasoned further response which clearly explains the rationale for the determination reached.
We have also made an additional recommendation to address an administrative shortcoming, specifically how Police Scotland recorded the applicant’s complaints. We have recommended that Police Scotland records complaint 3 as a separate complaint about the police.
Our recommendations should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Outcome
Police Scotland implemented both primary recommendations made in this case. Police Scotland undertook further enquiries, reassessed the evidence available and provided the applicant with a further response which clearly explained the rationale for the determinations reached. The two complaints remained not upheld, however in relation to complaint 2, Police Scotland identified additional learning for the subject officers. Police Scotland also implemented our additional recommendation to address an administrative shortcoming identified as part of our review.
Police Bodies : Police Scotland