Complaints against police rise by a quarter

Published on 08/12/2009 21:44

THE number of complaints made about the police has risen by a quarter, figures revealed yesterday.

The Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland said the most common complaint, in 21 per cent of cases, was that police had not carried out their job well. But 18 per cent of complaints concerned assault allegations, while 15 per cent were complaints of rudeness.

The figures, for 2008-9, revealed that 15 cases concerning allegations about the behaviour of officers and other police staff resulted in criminal proceedings, with ten leading to conviction.

A further 120 allegations resulted in misconduct procedures against the person involved. This is a rise of 131 per cent from 2007-8.

A total of 8,558 allegations were made about the behaviour of police officers and staff during 2008-9, up 25 per cent on the previous year.

And 6,690 allegations concerning on-duty staff were dealt with, up 49 per cent on 2007-8.

The Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland, John McNeill, said: "Complaints about the police are part of policing.

"The information contained in the report will help to inform the public debate on Scotland's police and the police themselves can also use it to learn lessons to improve the way they work."

The figures also revealed complaints about excessive force had increased 75 per cent.