Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The complaints in this case arose after the police took possession of the applicant’s firearms. The applicant had been involved in a neighbour dispute, during which he surrendered to police his guns and certificates that allowed him to possess his weapons. He later reapplied for these certificates, but this was declined.

We have reviewed the handling of three complaints, namely that:

1. An officer pressed the applicant to have his guns removed from storage;
2.  Police Scotland provided no decision to the applicant regarding his application for an air weapon permit; and
3. An officer failed to respond to the applicant’s request for information

Police Scotland’s Decision

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

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled complaint 3 to a reasonable standard, but not so complaints 1 and 2.

Consequently, we have made a recommendation to address the shortcoming in Police Scotland’s handling of complaint 2. In summary, we have recommended that  Police Scotland re-assess the available information in relation to complaint 2 and provide the applicant with a further response.