31 May 2023 | Complaint Reviews
Report – Police Scotland – PIRC/00723/22
Our role is to review the way in which policing bodies handle complaints made about them. It is not to investigate the circumstances which led to the complaint or uphold allegations made. When carrying out a Complaint Handling Review (CHR) we consider a number of factors, including whether police carried out sufficient enquiries; their response was supported by the material information available and whether the police response was adequately reasoned.
See a Report Summary of the relevant CHR below. To comply with UK Government accessibility regulations we no longer publish documents in PDF form, so it’s currently not feasible for us to publish a full copy of the report.
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose after the applicant reported to the police that his friend had been coerced into changing his will. We have reviewed the handling of two complaints, namely that:
- Police Scotland initially failed to record or investigate a crime reported by the applicant; and
- The investigation into the applicant’s report was not thorough.
Police Scotland’s Decision
Police Scotland did not uphold either of the applicant’s complaints.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland did not handle either of the applicant’s complaints to a reasonable standard.
Consequently, we have made two recommendations to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of the complaints. In summary, we have recommended that Police Scotland provides the applicant with a further response which takes account of our observations and explains whether each of the complaints are upheld or not upheld.
Our recommendations should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Police Bodies : Police Scotland