TAYSIDE POLICE has apologised to a man for the way it handled a series of complaints he made about officers.

The case came to light after Scottish police complaints commissioner Jim Martin was asked by the unidentified man to get involved as he was not satisfied with the force’s response.

The results of Mr Martin’s inquiries have just been released.

These explain that the man was charged after intervening during the arrest of a friend. He was unhappy with the way the force dealt with his formal complaints, which included claims about the conduct of the officers at the scene of the incident.

He was also concerned at later not being told what was happening with inquiries into CCTV footage of the incident and at the length of time the whole process was taking.

His initial contact with the force had been in December 2006, but he was still receiving correspondence in January 2008.

The last letter was from a superintendent who explained there had been technical problems with the CCTV camera and no recording was available.

The superintendent also apologised for the man not being advised about the “significant delay” in dealing with his concerns.

He added, “I fully acknowledge that errors have been made in the administration processes concerning your complaint. I must once again sincerely apologise to you for them.

“I can advise that as a consequence of your disappointing experience I have reinforced our processes to prevent any repetition.”

Mr Martin rejected some of the man’s complaints, including one that an officer shouted at him.

However, he has told the force it still needs to consider why the man’s personal details were not recorded by an officer at the scene of the incident and why the man was not told earlier about the lack of CCTV footage.

On the length of time taken, the commissioner said, “In light of the fact that the force has provided the complainer with an appropriate apology, no further action is recommended in relation to this particular complaint.

“However, I am of the view that the force should have provided the complainer with updates on the progress of the investigation once the inquiry process was recommenced in June 2007.

“As such, I recommend that Tayside Police satisfies itself that complainers are now regularly updated on the status of their complaints.”