Police respond to accusations of not following up blind man's complaint

Reports of Hamilton Police being too busy to investigate reports of money being stolen from a blind man's account are incorrect. Head of Hamilton CIB, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page, said Police are investigating Steven DONELLY'S complaint and video stills from CCTV footage were obtained eight days after the complaint was laid and attached to the file. "Unfortunately, competing priorities mean we haven't yet arranged for those stills to be seen by the complainant's family," said Mr Page. Mr Page said inquiry work plays a big part in Police business and sometimes puts pressure on staff however Police have a robust system for managing investigative workloads and all complaints are taken seriously. "We're constantly facing challenges around workload. Because of this we critically assess each investigation file to ensure consistency of service for each complaint." "Having said that, reports of Mr Donnelly's calls not being returned for three weeks are disappointing and steps are being taken to address his concerns." Mr Page said investigation workloads are actively managed to ensure no evidence is lost and work is prioritised appropriately. "There'll always be complainants who want their case dealt with before someone else's, but we have to be fair to all." Mr Page said some files are inactivated where leads are not available, or Police cannot locate suspects but this doesn't mean cases are closed. "We inactivate files but leave suspects on our system as 'Wanted'. "This allows us to release investigators to work on more current and urgent matters, without losing the ability to deal with suspects on file later." End