Complaint Handling Reviews

The Complaints

The applicant and his wife had leased a property and had been involved in an ongoing dispute regarding their tenancy, and were being threatened with eviction. In October 2023, the applicant and his wife were evicted and contacted the police for assistance.  Officers attended the scene but did not consider that any criminality had taken place. We have reviewed the handling of five complaints, namely that:

1.    on 3 October 2023, attending officers did not intervene to prevent an unlawful eviction; 
2.    officers did not arrange for the applicant’s wife to receive medical attention;
3.    two of the attending officers appeared to have a personal friendship with the applicant’s former landlord, which is a conflict of interest;
4.    officers treated the applicant more favourably than his wife; and
5.    officers discriminated against your wife due to her ethnicity.
 

Police Scotland’s Decision

Police Scotland did not uphold the applicant’s complaints. 

Our Findings

We have found that Police Scotland handled all of the applicant’s complaints to a reasonable standard. 
We have made a single learning point relative to Police Scotland’s administration of the complaints.
Our learning point should be implemented by Police Scotland within two months of the date of this report.

Police Bodies: Police Scotland