Posted: Tuesday 3 August 2010
Public needs evidence that police are learning lessons, says Commissioner
Reviews from the PCCS published today (Monday 2 August) contain some good news for the police. Of the 30 heads of complaint involving Strathclyde, Northern, Fife and Tayside Constabulary, the Commissioner, Professor John McNeill found that 22 had been handled reasonably. At the same time he went on to identify four learning points for the police in the reviews relating to Strathclyde Police and Northern Constabulary.
The learning points range from the need to keep auditable records of enquiries made into complaints, to the need for regular, written updates to be issued to the public, where enquiries into their complaints become lengthy.
In one case, the Commissioner highlighted that an officer who is subject to a complaint retiring from the police service before the complaint is resolved, is not a reason not to investigate that complaint. He also reminded the same force of the need to avoid the use of inappropriate language in its responses to complaints.
Professor McNeill said: I am conscious that, by the time I look at how the police handled a particular complaint, I can be dealing with historical practices. Nonetheless, I would be failing in my duty if I did not draw attention to poor practice where I find it and highlight learning points to improve how the police respond to complaints from the public in future. The learning points can make an important contribution towards increasing public confidence in the police in Scotland.
Anonymised versions of the Commissioner's Complaint Handling Reviews are published on the PCCS website www.pcc-scotland.org.