Police controller’s actions criticised

A police controller failed to pass on information from a 999 call properly the evening before a man was found dead, a report has found.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) found the controller in the control room at Bilston Glen was “dismissive” of the caller’s concerns and sent officers to the wrong location – where they found nothing on the evening of March 24.

The body of a 51-year-old man was found in a flat in Edinburgh on March 25.

The police watchdog’s report said a man called 999 late on the evening of March 24 to report he could hear banging, shouting and raised voices coming from a nearby flat.

The controller who managed the incident was dismissive of the man as she felt he was someone who abused the 999 system to report minor matters.

The Pirc report found she failed to pass “accurate and relevant information” to officers. As a result, they did not go to either the flat where the man’s body was later found or speak to the man who had made the 999 call.

A post-mortem examination found the man died from a combination of drugs in his system.

The Pirc report said: “The Police Scotland controller was dismissive of the reporter as she knew him to be a repeat user of the 999 system to report, in her opinion, trivial matters.

“Had she taken the report more seriously she should have sent the officers to the disturbance in the flat, resulting in clarity being established in relation to the deceased’s wellbeing at that time.”

Contact Command and Control Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Roddy Newbigging said: “We accept the findings... and will respond to the recommendations in due course.”

Had she taken the report more seriously she should have sent the officers to the disturbance