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It is when a case goes to the procurator fiscal that it can take up to six months, although the times are getting better.

I am thinking that complaints of assault against police officers must be quite common.

We heard from the PIRC yesterday that it has a target of up to 90 days, and it seems to be meeting that.

Right.

Good morning. I want to begin by asking you about the lower standard that you mentioned—I think that this is the first time that I have heard about that. Is that contained in law or guidance? Where does that come from?

I expect that we will hear from the next panel about what happens after the 90 days. I note that you say in your submission that a distinction should be drawn between

“allegations made while an officer still holds the office of constable”

and

“allegations made subsequent to the officer holding the office of constable”—

in other words, where the allegation comes once they are no longer with the police. Does that mean that you think that there should be some adjustment to the bill?

Thank you. Can you clarify something that you said to Sharon Dowey? This matter came up in previous evidence. In a particular case that the committee looked at, the police officer was, I think, suspended or put on restricted duties, and he was not allowed to know what the allegations against him were. The suggestion in that evidence session was that there might be legal reasons for that. What is the position on that?

And, if you think there is a reasonable inference of criminality, that is where the PIRC—

So, in all other cases, there is a certain standard of sufficiency that is applied, but, when it comes to police officers, you have to do something completely different. Is that not quite an odd approach for a prosecutor to deal with?

I am trying to get my head around all the different categories of complaints and criminality that police officers might be accused of. You might have alluded to that earlier in response to one of my colleagues. I suppose that a typical example of a complaint might be when a member of the public says that excessive force was used in the middle of an arrest and that, in effect, they have been assaulted. Given that low test, is there not quite a fine line in those cases?

That is helpful.

I am interested in a specific area in relation to public complaints against the police, which was mentioned in a previous evidence session. The issue concerns instances of poor investigatory processes within a police investigation—as were evident in the Emma Caldwell case, for example, where, 20 years later, we can see that the police followed lines of inquiry that do not seem to stand up. In such instances, are there processes currently, or are processes proposed in the bill, that will allow a family to complain about the quality of an investigation?