15 February 2021 | Complaint Reviews
Report - Police Scotland PIRC/00385/20
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 an ‘Executive 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 from an ongoing neighbour dispute.
We have reviewed the handling of two complaints, namely that:
- on 3 December 2019, an officer did not progress or investigate a report that the applicant made about his neighbour manipulating the police and making false allegations against him; and
- on 23 June 2020, an officer warned the applicant regarding an allegation of stalking that his neighbour made against him without having fully investigated the incident.
Police Scotland’s Decision
Police Scotland did not uphold either of the applicant’s complaints.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland handled complaint 2 to a reasonable standard, but not so complaint 1.
Consequently, we have made a recommendation to address the shortcoming in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 1. In summary, we recommend that Police Scotland undertake additional enquiry and provide the applicant with a further response. We have also identified a learning point relative to the administration of this complaint.
Our recommendation and learning point should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Police Bodies : Police Scotland