One of Scotland’s top police officers is the subject of a complaint from a senior civilian worker.
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs, who has responsibility for upholding professionalism, is alleged to have made a remark which the person found upsetting.
The alleged incident is said to have happened in front of other people at Tulliallan, the force’s corporate headquarters in Fife.
Mr Speirs, who earns £213,394 a year, is said to have put his arm around the member of staff with a source claiming he apologised for any offence that may have been caused. However, the civilian worker complained about his behaviour and later went off sick.
The Mail understands the grievance was sent to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), the civilian oversight body for the force, which deals with complaints about top officers.
It was then sent back to Police Scotland to be dealt with internally after failing to meet the threshold for an investigation by the SPA.
The source said the allegation was that the person was ‘upset’ and Mr Speirs ‘put his arm around [them] and said he was sorry – his intention was to comfort or reassure’. He added: ‘The expectation was that this would be the end of the matter but [they] then lodged a complaint.’
A second insider said: ‘An inappropriate or derisory remark was allegedly made which was felt to be patronising, in front of other people. This caused upset and unfortunately the [person] concerned has now gone off sick.
‘If these situations can be rapidly resolved, with an apology offered and accepted, that’s the best way to deal with it. But it will be difficult to manage the relationship with [them] – because [the staff member] isn’t at work.’
The source added: ‘It does raise issues about the SPA’s level of scrutiny – that it bounced the matter back to the force to deal with rather than making their own inquiries.’
A third source said: ‘Mr Speirs is essentially the man in charge of handling complaints within the force in his professionalism brief.
‘So it has been sent back to the force – and normally he would be the person who would deal with these issues.’
Chief Constable Jo Farrell, as Mr Speirs’ line manager, may have to get involved to resolve the situation.
Asked for Mr Speirs’s comments on the allegations, a Police Scotland spokesman said any inquiries about executive officers should be directed to the SPA.
An SPA spokesman said: ‘The Authority does not comment on individual complaint and conduct matters.’