Review - Lothian & Borders Police
- Reference:
- PCCS-0811-00198-PF-LB
- Police Body:
- Lothian & Borders Police
- Date:
- 29 November 2008
- Download:
- Download Review - Lothian & Borders Police
The complainer requested that the PCCS review the handling of 14 complaints about Lothian and Borders Police, relating to two separate incidents, that resulted in three reports of assault being submitted to the Procurator Fiscal. The complainer maintained the force were biased against him and took a one-sided approach in reporting the incidents to the Procurator Fiscal.
Of the 14 complaints, nine were not upheld. It was noted by the PCCS that it may have been helpful if records of meetings and telephone calls had been available, however on the whole an adequate response was provided to the complainer regarding these complaints.
The PCCS commented regarding the time taken to deal with these complaints, noting that the force had not followed it's standard operating procedures. Had this occurred it may have served as a reminder to update the complainer on the progress of his complaints.
It appeared that the force had not considered and responded to two of the complaints and the PCCS recommended that it now do so.
Regarding the complaints that the force was biased against him and that all of the information was not reported to the Procurator Fiscal, the PCCS was of the view that pertinent information that could have a bearing on the case appeared to have been omitted in the report, and as a result there was a risk that the PF was not in possession of all available relevant information. The PCCS believed there were issues that may be indicative of a potentially serious systemic failure, and therefore drew the issues arising and the case to the attention of the Crown.
During the review it was noted that there were inconsistencies and omissions in recording complaints about the police which could add to the difficulties of the complaint handling process and lead to misunderstandings. The PCCS advised that this was a learning point for the force.