The Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland has asked Central Scotland Police to review its Appropriate Adult Policy, specifically whether its current definition of “vulnerable adult” remains suitable in the light of guidance published by the Scottish Government on this subject in 2007.
This follows a complaint from a member of the public that their son was not treated as a “vulnerable adult” by Central Scotland Police, despite having a history of depression and self harm. The Commissioner found that although the applicant’s son had been dealt with correctly under the force’s policy as it stood at that time, the policy itself should be reviewed in the light of the 2007 guidance.
The recommendation was one of three made to the Central Scotland force following 16 separate complaints about a police investigation that had resulted in charges being brought against the individual concerned.
In the same review the Commissioner also asked the force to apologise to the complainer for the actions of its officers in carrying our curfew checks, which they themselves had admitted were “over zealous”.
In the same set of reviews, Strathclyde Police has been asked to apologise to a member of the public for the lack of rigour in its investigation of a complaint and for the final response it sent to the complainant.
The Commissioner also identified a number of learning points for Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, including the need to maintain an effective and auditable record of complaints investigations. This arose when the Commissioner was unable to view the original notes of discussions involving senior officers about the complaint, when reviewing the way the complaint was handled.
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As part of his review, the Commissioner also considered a complaint about the time it had taken Central Scotland Joint Police Board to respond to requests for information. The Joint Police Board is the body responsible for the budget and management of the force’s resources. They also have a significant role to play in providing frontline oversight of the force’s police complaints handling processes. The Commissioner recommended that the Board establish written procedures for dealing with complaints made against itself as these would provide a framework for ensuring effectiveness and consistency in complaint handling.
John McNeill, Police Complaints Commissioner said:
“If we are serious about driving up standards, the police have to get better at identifying and rectifying poor practice much earlier in the complaints process. The changes I recommend are being implemented by forces, but what I want to see is evidence of that change being embedded in practice and procedure so that I do not find the same poor practice in the future.”
The latest set of seven Case Handling Reviews published today Saturday 20 February involved a total of 46 complaints of which the Commissioner found only six that were not handled reasonably by the police. Thirty eight were found to have been handled reasonably and a further two fell outside the Commissioner’s remit.