that his file was not in that centre. A new date was written down erasing the old one and no further explanations were provided. The complainant disagreed with the above mentioned, requested the complaint book and wrote down his complaint. According to the Decree-Law No. 135/99 of April 22, article 38, No. 5 states that all complaints must be answered within 15 days. During the instruction the Institute explained all the steps taken towards the complaint and issued a new letter. After clarifying the complaining procedure and the c Institute’s legal obligations it was decided to close the case. • c) Remarks Case Q-3147/15 Entity addressed: Public Security Police (PSP) Date: 2016.08.03 Subject: Police action. Loss of documents Outcome: Appropriate measures were adopted to prevent further similar cases The Lisbon Metropolitan Command of Public Security Police has an information system in operation providing an interconnection and share of information between all the police stations. In case of loss and found procedures it should be possible to cross-check all information provided the recording procedures are properly done. The present complaint refers to a failure in complying to those procedures, namely a missing data entry regarding the identity on documents found, and consequently a three months delay to cross-check with the claim of loss of those documents. The Ombudsman has concluded, however, that this case was unusual. The Lisbon Metropolitan of PSP has reassured the Ombudsman all appropriate measures would be taken to avoid the same error in the future. • 148 |