Complaint cases against the police in Scotland rose by 4% last year but allegations against officers soared by 13%, according to independent police complaints commissioner Professor John McNeill.
The figures, covering the year to March 31, 2012, come as Scotland’s eight regional forces prepare to merge next April into a single national police service under the command of Strathclyde chief constable Stephen House.
While this year’s numbers are open to the usual debate about whether an increase is due to poorer police behaviour or better public confidence in the complaints system, they also focus attention on the merger process, which will remove the option of complaints against one force being investigated by officers from another.
McNeill said a consistent standard of reporting, recording and handling complaints would be central to the new system. ‘My office is already part of a Scottish Government-led project to create the oversight and governance mechanisms we need to hold the single force to account,’ he said.
‘What is important is that the public has a route to voice their complaint and that police have a framework to implement improvements to procedures and practices as a result of complaints received,’ he added. ‘We must now start to visualise how to take best practice within a national police service and apply that across the country.’
The figures do offer some grounds for encouragement. Much of the rise seems to reflect relatively minor grievances, and the number of cases referred to the procurator fiscal for possible legal pursuit have fallen by more than a quarter from 649 to 479. Only 29 cases during the year resulted in criminal convictions against officers.
More than a third of cases came under the heading of ‘irregular procedure’ and a further 11.6% ‘neglect of duty’, both categories for claims that officers have failed to do what the complainant expected of them. A further 15.3% of cases alleged ‘incivility’ or rudeness on the part of officers.
There is also reassuring news for House, whose present force polices almost half the Scottish population. It received the lowest per-capital volume of complaints – 6.1 per 10,000 people, compared with 11.4 in Tayside.
McNeill said the increased case load was disappointing, though the long-term trend remained downwards.
‘Reasonable people understand that the police face challenging circumstances daily and inevitably they will sometimes get it wrong,’ he said.
