What happens after I have made a complaint?

After you make a complaint, it will be assessed by the National Complaints Assessment and Resolution Service (NCARS) in the Professional Standards Department of Police Scotland. After this assessment Police Scotland will contact you and it may be that they provide you with further information or explanation that means your complaint can be resolved quickly. This will then be recorded and any actions that have been agreed will be undertaken. The complaint can then be concluded. 

 

If the matter cannot be resolved at this stage, for example, if you are not satisfied with or do not agree with the explanation provided, or if the police think they need to look at your complaint in more detail, the Professional Standards team will record it, and your complaint will be allocated to an investigation team within Police Scotland.

 

The police aim to contact you within 10 working days of receiving your complaint to either attempt to resolve it or to advise you it has been allocated for further investigation. It may take them longer to deal with your complaint if it is more complex. If you haven’t had a response within this time you can ask for an update using the Complaints Update form on the Police Scotland website.

If your case is passed to an investigation team, it will be given a reference number and allocated to an enquiry officer. The enquiry officer will be someone who is not directly connected to your complaint. They will contact you to ask about any missing details and to answer any questions you may have. You should be listened to and treated fairly during this process. You can ask how your complaint will be investigated and how a decision will be reached.

 

The enquiry officer should ask you how you would like to be contacted and they should keep you informed on the progress and outcome of your complaint. We understand some survivors may feel uncomfortable with being contacted directly by the police. It may be possible to arrange for someone else to act as a point of contact instead. You can speak to the SWRC Advocacy team or other support service for more information about this.

 

When your complaint is finalised, you should be contacted as soon as possible about the outcome and any action that will be taken as a result. Sometimes investigations are kept confidential, and you will only be told about the outcome in a general way - for example you may only be told that further training will be provided. You should receive a Final Response Letter. It is important to get advice about whether the response or documents you receive from Police Scotland can be shared or used in any civil court action. You can get advice from a solicitor or speak to Police Scotland about this.