Formed 1 April 2013 Employees 49 | Jurisdiction Scotland | |
Headquarters Hamilton House, Hamilton Business Park, Caird Park, Hamilton, ML3 0QA Minister responsible Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Justice Non Departmental Public Body executives Kate Frame,, Police Investigation and Review Commissioner
Barry Mackay,, Director of Corporate Services | ||
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) is the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for investigating complaints by members of the public against Police Scotland.
It provides independent scrutiny of how police bodies respond to complaints from members of the public.
History
On 1 April 2013, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 brought together Scotland's eight territorial police services, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and the Scottish Police Services Authority into the new national police service, Police Scotland. At the same time the remit of the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland expanded to include investigations into the most serious incidents involving the police. To reflect this change, the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland was renamed the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner.
In June 2014 Kate Frame was appointed as the new Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, taking up the post in August.