Police in bungled swoop pointed guns at 11 people
POLICE pointed guns at 11 people during an ‘unwarranted’ operation, a probe has found.
Scotland’s force has now been ordered to apologise to eight people – including two women who were strip-searched.
Police Scotland insisted it had been ‘acting in good faith’ when responding to an alleged firearms incident – but the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) condemned the handling of the 90-minute operation.
Armed officers were sent out when a man claimed that five men with guns, Tasers and knives were outside his Edinburgh flat.
Police Scotland said the alert, on July 22 last year, sparked a ‘difficult and fast-moving situation’.
But a man in his pyjamas was detained and his flat searched with ‘no legitimate basis’, Pirc found, while there was ‘no evidence’ to connect to any offence two women who were taken from a car at gunpoint, strip-searched and detained for 24 hours.
It emerged the operation was launched on the strength of allegations from an ‘unidentifiable male’ and the inspector in charge acted ‘without seeking additional information or intelligence to revise, review or amend his decisions’.
Chief Superintendent Matt Richards, head of specialist services at Police Scotland, said officers had been ‘acting in good faith’ but admitted that the situation was ‘not handled well’.
The commissioner, Kate Frame, said: ‘While these were fastmoving events related to a number of significant issues, it resulted in four armed response vehicles and nine firearms officers being deployed on seven occasions and police pointing guns at 11 people on three separate occasions over a period of less than an hour and a half.
‘A number of these people were detained and searched on the strength principally of allegations made by an unidentifiable male and this action in a number of instances appears to have been entirely unwarranted.’
The Pirc found ‘no legitimate basis’ for police to suspect a man who was detained, adding they appeared to lack the lawful authority to search his home and car.
Three men were later charged with threatening and abusive behaviour but no criminal proceedings have been brought against them.
Mr Richards said: ‘A thorough review took place following the incident and a number of measures were put in place to address the issues identified by the Pirc.
‘We are writing to the individuals involved to apologise and I want to do that again publicly now.’
Last night, Labour justice spokesman Daniel Johnson urged senior officers to ‘consider if police firearm regulations need to be reviewed’ following the case.
He said: ‘Trained firearms officers have an important role to play in keeping people safe but their role must be tightly regulated and their use strictly controlled.’