Posted: Tuesday 15 June 2010
Complaints Commissioner signs agreement with MoD Police in Scotland
The Ministry of Defence Police is the latest policing body to come within the remit of Professor John McNeill, the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland.
At a meeting in Hamilton, the MOD'S representative and police adviser to the MOD Police Committee, Andrew Brown and the Commissioner, Professor McNeill, signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) to formalise arrangements giving the Commissioner the authority to review how the MOD's own civil police force handle complaints from personnel and members of the public.
Headquartered at the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane, the MoD Police patrol and secure base sites and perimeters at some 15 locations in Scotland, including those housing the UK's nuclear deterrent.
In signing the agreement, the 800 MoD police officers based in Scotland become subject to the same oversight in terms of complaints about their actions as Scotland's eight police forces, their staff and officers plus the policing bodies such as the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
Anyone who has been affected by or witnessed something that led to a formal complaint about the MoD Police can request a review by the PCCS. This can include serving military personnel.
The PCCS will then review and publish a report detailing its findings and recommendations. This could range from the Commissioner calling on the MoD Police to look again at the complaint either on its own or under supervision, to recommending changes to the policies and procedures that led to the complaint. These recommendations can be made even where the PCCS does not uphold the initial complaint, but where the Commissioner is not satisfied that the procedures followed are adequate.
Professor McNeill said: "The agreement with the MoD police means that all police forces and police bodies operating in Scotland are subject to the same degree of impartial oversight."
This latest agreement with the MoD Police follows similar arrangements with the SOCA, British Transport Police Authority and the Civil Nuclear Police Authority.