Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose following a report to the police that the applicant had assaulted a child. The applicant was issued with a Recorded Police Warning (RPW) in relation to assault with no injury. We have reviewed the handling of three complaints, namely that:

1.    the applicant was discriminated against by an officer on the grounds of his race, nationality and immigration status by being coerced into accepting a recorded police warning to avoid the officer having to start court proceedings;
2.    the applicant was not informed of the nature of the allegations made against him until after his attendance at the police station and meeting with other police officers; and
3.    the applicant is unhappy that the police officer accepted a false statement from the witnesses about what he did.
 

Police Scotland’s Decision

Police Scotland did not uphold any of the applicant’s complaints. 

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled the applicant’s complaints to a reasonable standard. 
However, we have made a recommendation to address shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 3. In summary, we have recommended that Police Scotland take account of our observations and consider the provision of learning.
Our recommendation should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.