| Kevin Mathieson was responding to a reader’s letter published in the Tele on Tuesday that criticised officers for a lack of action after a young Polish man was attacked in the street by a large group of youths.
The person had witnessed the assault in Albert Street on Saturday and was angry at the length of time police took to arrive and their alleged unwillingness to arrest those responsible.
The force later confirmed three people had been charged and the reader’s claims were being investigated.
However, the chief constable — who took command earlier this month — has decided to respond directly to the complaint.
Mr Mathieson said, “I have asked the deputy chief constable, who has responsibility for overseeing complaints against the police, to have our professional standards department fully investigate this.
“Long experience has taught me it is sensible to wait until all the facts are obtained before coming to a view as to whether the actions of the officers need corrective action or not.
“However, your readers can rest assured I take complaints against the police, regardless of how minor they are, very seriously and view them as opportunities to review our actions, identify and address shortcomings to raise standards, provide explanation for our actions and win back trust and confidence.
“If we get it wrong, as we will from time to time, we’ll seek to put it right, but just as we need the public to tell us what is going wrong in our communities so we can respond appropriately, we also need people to tell us when they believe they have had less than a professional response from us so we can put it right.”
The force’s annual report for 2007/08 shows a total of 373 complaints were made about the police. During the year, 239 cases were resolved, with more than half ending with an explanation being given to the complainer.
There were 29 cases where corrective advice was given to officers, five involving action under misconduct rules and one report to the procurator fiscal leading to criminal proceedings.
The most recent performance indicator for violent crime shows 77 cases recorded in Dundee during April and May, with a detection rate of 74%. That was up from 46 incidents in the same period last year, when 70% were detected.
For the whole of Tayside the April and May total was 116 violent crimes, up from 94 in the comparable months in 2007. The detection rate was up at 78% against 75%. |
