Report - Strathclyde Police
- Reference:
- PCCS/00425/PF – SP
- Police Body:
- Date:
- 20 February 2010
- Download:
- Download Report - Strathclyde Police
The complaints in this report arose from an incident in 2006 involving the applicant and his nephew. Generally, the complaints concern allegations of subsequent harassment by a particular officer.
Of the six complaints contained within this report, the Commissioner decided that one was dealt with by Strathclyde Police in a reasonable manner, while three were not. The Commissioner also found in respect of an alleged incident between an officer and a third party that the applicant was not in a legitimate position to pursue a complaint arising from this. The Commissioner found another complaint to be criminal in nature and therefore beyond his statutory remit.
The Commissioner recommended that Strathclyde Police apologise to the applicant for the lack of rigour in its investigation of one of the complaints. The Commissioner also recommended that Strathclyde Police apologise to the applicant for an unsubstantiated comment made in the response to one of the complaints.
The Commissioner has identified as a learning point the fact that the statements of Constable A, Ms H and Mr J are not dated and do not state by whom they were obtained. In the Commissioner's view, all statements taken as part of a complaints investigation ought to be dated. This is particularly important in cases, such as this one, where witnesses seek to describe the timing of an incident by reference to the date on which they were interviewed.
The Commissioner notes that on 8 January 2010 the Head of Professional Standards at Strathclyde Police issued to all divisional commanders a memorandum summarising the Commissioner's previous recommendation that all statements in complaints investigations be dated. The Commissioner will monitor whether the memorandum improves practice in this area.