Central Scotland Police

Professional Standards

Introduction

The Professional Standards Department in Central Scotland Police comprises three distinct units:

• Complains & Conduct Unit
• Professional Standards Unit
• Information Governance Unit

The Officer in Charge of the Professional Standards Department is a Chief Inspector who reports directly to the Deputy Chief Constable.

The individual responsibilities of the separate units are as follows:

Complaints & Conduct

This office deals with matters of complaints about the Police on behalf of the Deputy Chief Constable, who is the designated discipline authority for the Force. Complaints fall into categories of criminal allegations, serious misconduct, minor misconduct, and quality of service issues. Each individual complaint is thoroughly assessed and investigated at an appropriate level. Minor complaints and quality of service complaints are mostly dealt with at local level where there is an expectation that there will be early resolution to the complaint. More serious complaints and allegations of criminal offences are investigated by the Complaints & Conduct Unit.

The complaints office can be reached by email at complaints@centralscotland.police.uk

If you wish to find out more about making a complaint, please visit our Complaints & Conduct pages in the Help & Advice section.

You may also wish to read the following document - A guide for complaints about the Police.

If you wish to contact the department directly, please call 01786 456320.

The Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland (PCCS) is an independent body responsible for reviewing complaint handling in Scottish Forces. If you have made a complaint about the police and remain unhappy with the way your complaint was handled or about the outcome of the investigation you may refer the complaint to the PCCS. The following document explains in more detail the role of the PCCS - A guide for the public on the role of the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland.

Professional Standards Unit

This Professional Standards Unit promotes a knowledge and understanding of professional standards within the organisation through a policy of education to ensure, integrity and ethical standards are maintained. The staff assess the vulnerable areas of the Force that may be open to corruption and instigate processes to overcome any weaknesses identified.

The department develops robust policies that will combine with the prevention and education strategy to raise the awareness amongst all staff to the issues of integrity, ethical behaviour, and security of information.

Information Governance Unit

The unit is responsible for Data Protection, Information Security, Freedom of Information, Records Management and Vetting. The staff responsible for these specialist areas provide training to all new members of staff and via inputs to appropriate training courses.

The Information Governance Unit carries out audits on Force information systems to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act. Subject Access requests made by members of the public continue to rise and details of the procedure can be found on a downloadable form.

The rights under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act came into force on 1st January 2005, and the Freedom of Information Officer provides guidance, training and response in relation to enquiries.