# Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014, Section 9A: Victims’ right to protection during criminal investigations


(1) During a criminal investigation into an offence or alleged offence, the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland must ensure that—
(a) a relevant interview is conducted without undue delay after a complaint about the offence or alleged offence has been made to a constable,
(b) the number of relevant interviews is kept to a minimum,
(c) relevant interviews are carried out only where strictly necessary for the purposes of the criminal investigation,
(d) during a relevant interview, the person who is or appears to be a victim in relation to the offence or alleged offence is permitted to be accompanied by the person’s chosen legal representative and a person of the person’s choice, unless a constable makes a reasoned decision to the contrary, and
(e) medical examinations of the person who is or appears to be a victim in relation to the offence or alleged offence are kept to a minimum and are carried out only where strictly necessary for the purposes of the investigation.
(2) In this section, a “relevant interview” means an interview of a person who is or appears to be the victim in relation to an offence or alleged offence conducted or arranged by a constable for the purposes of a criminal investigation into the offence or alleged offence.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2014/1/section/9A (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/victims-and-witnesses-scotland-act-2014/section-9A
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.