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A Guide for the Public on the Role of the Police Complaints Commissioner

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A Guide for the Public on the Role of the Police Complaints Commissioner Your complaint at a glance Relevant Police Bodies STEP 1 Contact the police organisation concerned Scottish police forces and complete their complaints process. • Central Scotland Police STEP 2 If you remain unhappy contact the Commissioner • Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary to request a review of your complaint. • Fife Constabulary STEP 3 If the Commissioner decides to carry out a • Grampian Police review, he will ask the police body you are complaining • Lothian and Borders Police about for all the information it has about what has • Northern Constabulary happened so far. • Strathclyde Police STEP 4 The Commissioner will examine the facts of the • Tayside Police case, looking at all the information provided by you and the police organisation. He will review the evidence on Scottish police authorities and boards which the police conclusions were based and come to • Central Scotland Joint Police Board a view on whether the conclusions were reasonable. A guide for the public • Dumfries & Galloway Police and Fire and Rescue Authority STEP 5 The Commissioner will write to you and the • Fife Police, Fire and Safety Committee on the role of the Police police body involved to let you know his decision. His • Grampian Joint Police Board report, known as Complaint Handling Review, will usually Complaints Commissioner be published, fully anonymised, on the PCCS website • Lothian & Borders Joint Police Board www.pcc-scotland.org. • Northern Joint Police Board for Scotland • Strathclyde Police Authority The Complaint Handling Review will outline: • Tayside Joint Police Board • the complaint Scottish police bodies • the background to the complaint • Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency • what the police body did to deal with the complaint • Scottish Police Services Authority • the Commissioner’s consideration of the way the police UK police bodies operating in Scotland body handled the complaint • British Transport Police and British Transport • the Commissioner’s conclusions and, where Police Authority appropriate, any recommendations to the police body. • Civil Nuclear Constabulary and Civil Nuclear Constabulary Authority • Ministry of Defence Police • Serious and Organised Crime Agency Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland Police Complaints Commissioner Hamilton House, Hamilton Business Park • United Kingdom Border Agency for Scotland Caird Park, Hamilton ML3 0QA Tel: 0808 178 5577 Fax: 01698 542 901 Contact details for these organisations are listed in full on the PCCS website www.pcc-scotland.org , on their Email: [email protected] Increasing Scotland’s confidence in police complaints Website: www.pcc-scotland.org websites and in the phone book. handling through impartial oversight and reform. Who is the Police Complaints Commissioner What can the Commissioner do? How will the Commissioner keep me for Scotland? The Commissioner reviews the evidence and forms a view informed about my complaint? The post of the Commissioner was established in 2007 under on whether the conclusions reached by the police body Your initial contact will be acknowledged within two the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) were reasonable. working days and you will be told as soon as possible Act 2006 . The current Commissioner is John McNeill. if your complaint falls within the Commissioner’s remit. The Commissioner can recommend that the police body: If the Commissioner can accept your case, you will be What is his role? • carries out further investigation and provides a further advised on progress at least once every 28 days. response to the person who made the complaint The Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland (PCCS) If your complaint falls outside the Commissioner’s remit, • reconsiders the entire complaint, sometimes under provides independent scrutiny of the way that police forces, wherever possible, you will be given details for the his direct or indirect supervision police authorities and policing agencies in Scotland respond appropriate agency to deal with your complaint. to complaints from the public. As well as scrutinising the way • makes changes to its practices and procedures that complaints have been handled, the Commissioner’s role to prevent the same problem arising again. What if I don’t agree with the is to drive up standards in police complaints handling. Commissioner’s conclusion? Are there any complaints that the Commissioner If you have made a complaint about the police to the police cannot look at or make recommendations on? You can consult your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau or a body concerned and you are unhappy with the way that they solicitor about what further action you can take, which dealt with your complaint, the Commissioner may be able The Commissioner cannot: could include a judicial review. Contact details for your to review the way it was handled. • look at criminal allegations about a police officer or local Citizens Advice bureau can be found in the phone civilian staff; these issues are handled by the Crown book or on their website www.cas.org.uk His service is free and impartial. Office and Procurator Fiscal Service How can I be confident that the Commissioner • review complaints by serving officers or civilian staff will be fair? about their terms and conditions of service. “It is vital that the public continues to • order the payment of compensation or other The Commissioner is appointed by Scottish Ministers and have confidence in our police service. financial penalty. is independent of all police bodies. It is also a condition Modernising Scotland’s police complaints of his appointment that the Commissioner has no previous connections with the police. How do I ask the Commissioner to review system through the PCCS is an my complaint? It is important for him to be independent of all police important element in that work.” You can call free on 0808 178 557 7, complete an online forces, police authorities and policing agencies so that form on the PCCS website www.pcc-scotland.org or write Cabinet Secretary for Justice people can trust him to be fair and impartial. to the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland at: What can I complain about? Hamilton House The Commissioner reviews complaints about the behaviour Hamilton Business Park of police officers and civilian staff, as well as complaints Caird Park “I want to set standards for the way the about the quality of service from police bodies. This may Hamilton ML3 0QA include off duty complaints. police handle complaints and, when Accessibility something has gone wrong, I want to Before you complain to PCCS, you must first complete You can request materials in other formats such as the complaints process of the police body concerned. help the police learn lessons and Braille or large print or choose to receive information The police bodies that fall within the Commissioner’s in languages other than English. improve the way they work.” remit are listed at the back of this leaflet. John McNeill, Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland.
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