Report – Police Scotland – PIRC/00889/25
The Complaints
The complaints in this case arose after the applicant was cautioned and charged with being a pedestrian on the motorway contrary to the Motorways Traffic (Scotland) Regulations 1995. We have reviewed the handling of five complaints, namely that:
an officer used excessive force by grabbing the applicant’s left arm when he tried to remove his phone from his bag;
an officer told the applicant that grabbing his arm was not an assault and that they would show him what an assault was;
officers refused the applicant access to his mobile phone because he was looking to record the interaction;
while searching the applicant, officers told him to ‘man up’, called him a ‘freak’ and told him to ‘have some fucking dignity’; and
officers threatened the applicant several times while travelling in the police car.
Police Scotland's Decision
Police Scotland did not uphold any of the applicant’s complaints.
Our Findings
We have found that Police Scotland handled complaint 2 and 4 to a reasonable standard, but not so complaints 1, 3 and 5.
Consequently, we have made three recommendations and identified a learning point to address the shortcomings in Police Scotland’s handling of these complaints. In summary, we recommend that Police Scotland undertake further enquiry, reassess the complaints and provide the applicant with a further response.
Our recommendations and learning point should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.
Police Bodies: Police Scotland