Tayside Police unveil their complaints record

Jul 3 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A TOTAL of 423 complaints were made against Tayside Police during 2008-09 – but only two resulted in criminal convictions, according to the force’s annual report.

Tayside Police Chief Constable Kevin Mathieson revealed that 413 allegations were made against on-duty officers, with a further 15 lodged against off-duty personnel.

The most frequent complaint related to assault (87), closely followed by neglect of duty (79), inactivity (53) and irregularity in procedures (50).

More than half of the complaints – 211 – were resolved following an explanation to the complainer, while 136 led to “no proceedings” by the procurator fiscal.

Just 19 misconduct procedures took place, with 17 cases resulting in advice being given to the relevant officers.

Two of the matters led to criminal proceedings, both of which ended in convictions.

The same person was involved in both cases and he has since left the force.

Mr Mathieson stated: The past year has seen a number of changes as we have sought to develop our information management and intelligence capability, together with our response to unplanned critical incidents and public protection.

“One of the areas of concern for members of the public in the past has been our call handling performance and I am pleased to say that those issues have all been resolved and we are now constantly meeting and exceeding national standards.”

Perth now has 30 community officers in the city.

The expansion has taken place to tackle anti-social behaviour and for Tayside Police to form closer links with local communities.

“Police officers having closer links with local residents can also help to resolve problems and lower crime rates,” added the police chief.

“Officers in the town centre will be present over the weekend until the early hours, covering the time when the town is busiest.”