Watchdog criticises police for complaint of force

A WATCHDOG has criticised police over the handling of a complaint alleging that excessive force had been used by officers against a man at his home.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) said Police Scotland had not handled t he complaints by the man who claimed he had been kicked in the shin and pinned against a wall during the incident to a reasonable standard.

It made recommendations including that all four officers involved are reinterviewed along with the man’s wife who was there but was not inter viewed about the complaint.

Commissioner Kate Frame said four officers went to the house last summer to “detain the man and his wife over an allegation of stalking”.

The man resisted, tried to close the door on police and there was a struggle. The Pirc said the officers did not respond to the questions of excessive force directly, although the chief inspector who investigated the complaint said the officers denied using excessive force.

The complaint is included in a report to go before the Scottish Police Authority’s August meeting which said: “It is concluded that this complaint was not dealt with to a reasonable standard.” Pirc recommended that two of the officers are asked to “specifically address the applicant’s allegation that excessive force was used by pinning him against a wall”.

Police also failed to take a statement from the man’s wife about the incident and it was recommended they should return to do so.

The man had another complaint over an administrative error over a firearms certificate accepted and two further complaints, one about how police responded to an allegation of blood in the police van and another about police not removing footwear before entering the couple’s house, were rejected.