Report – Police Scotland – PIRC/00764/24
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose after officers attended the applicant’s address in response to an incident involving her partner and son. The incident culminated in the applicant’s partner being arrested and her son being issued with a Recorded Police Warning. We have reviewed the handling of seven complaints, namely that:
The officers, who noted statements from each of the witnesses at the applicant’s home address on 12 February 2023, omitted that the applicant’s son was in possession of a knife,
A named female advised a named officer that the applicant’s son had been in possession of a knife; and the officer told the female that, as she was the only person to have seen the knife, it was irrelevant, hearsay and would be omitted from her statement,
The same officer informed the applicant that he would omit information – that the applicant’s son had a knife – as he did not want to cause more trouble,
Another named officer refused to allow the applicant to read over her statement,
The statement that was noted from the applicant by a named officer was a complete fabrication, designed to suit a narrative of domestic abuse rather than what actually occurred,
The applicant’s partner was charged with trying to strangle her and officers told her that this was on the basis that the police had obtained two corroborated statements to support this, which she believes was not the case, and
A named officer said in his statement that the applicant provided a verbal account to him when he initially spoke to her, and the applicant thereafter provided a different account to another named officer when he was noting her statement; and the applicant believes this to be an attempt to call her integrity into question.
Police Scotland's Decision
Police Scotland upheld complaints 1, 2, 4 and 6, but did not uphold complaints 3, 5 and 7.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland handled complaints 2, 5, 6 and 7 to a reasonable standard, but did not handle complaints 1, 3 and 4 to a reasonable standard.
We have made 5 recommendations and identified a learning point to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of the complaints. In summary, we have recommended that Police Scotland undertake further proportionate enquiry, revisit the complaints and provide fresh responses to the complaints. We have also recommended that Police Scotland records complaints 1 and 2 of this report as two separate complaints, and re-categorises complaint 6 as Irregularity in Procedure. Our learning point relates to the importance of updating complainers throughout the complaints process and maintaining an auditable record to support that this has been done.
Our recommendations and learning point should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Police Bodies: Police Scotland