PC Alan Greer, a 47-year-old officer with Police Scotland, died by suicide in May after being arrested for a series of brutal sexual assaults. The investigation revealed that Greer targeted multiple women over a period of at least 14 years, including sex workers and his own colleagues.
The 2012 Glasgow home invasion that triggered the collapse
The downfall of PC Alan Greer began late last year when a woman reported that she had been raped in her Glasgow home in 2012. According to the report, the victim had originally called the police to report a crime at the time of the attack, but it was only recently that the specific assault by Greer was reported, sparking a major anti-corruption investigation.
This delayed report led to the arrest of PC Alan Greer on April 24, after which officers from Police Scotland's anti-corruption unit searched a property in the Wishaw area of Lanarkshire. During these searches, investigators recovered hundreds of graphic videos and images from electronic devices, providing a digital ledger of Greer's violent activities.
Nine identified victims and a 14-year trail of violence
While the 2012 case initiated the probe, detectives have since identified at least eight additional victims. As reported by the BBC, five of these women were sex workers whom PC Alan Greer assaulted while he was off duty. the violence was so extreme that authorities stated they would have pursued charges of attempted murder had Greer not taken his own life on May 6.
The predation extended into the professional sphere as well. Two of the victims are understood to be female police officers who were targeted by PC Alan Greer; he reportedly took inappropriate photographs of these women while they were undergoing training. This indicates a pattern of abusing power and access within the very institution designed to protect the public.
The missing phone number and the 2018 intelligence failure
A critical failure in police intelligence allowed PC Alan Greer to operate undetected for years. investigators discovered that Greer used a mobile phone number that had not been included on his official personnel file. Because this number was missing from internal records, Police Scotland was unable to link the device to the officer during previous checks.
This omission is particularly damning given that in 2018, a Glasgow sex worker provided intelligence to the police stating that the owner of that specific phone number was a violent customer. Because the number was not attached to a name in the database, the warning went unacted upon for years , allowing PC Alan Greer to continue his assaults until his arrest in April.
Comparing PC Alan Greer to London's Wayne Couzens
Sources close to the case have described this scandal as Police Scotland's "Wayne Couzens moment." This refers to the 2021 case of Wayne Couzens, a Metropolitan Police officer who received a whole-life sentence for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard in London. the parallel highlights a recurring and systemic fear: that the badge can be used as a shield for predatory behavior.
PC Alan Greer joined the Strathclyde Police in 2009 before the force merged into Police Scotland in 2013. For 17 years, he maintained an apparently unblemished service record while leading a secret life that involved the use of hundreds of prostitutes.. This dichotomy underscores the difficulty of detecting "hidden" criminality among officers who appear compliant and professional to their peers.
Who else was targeted during Greer's 17-year career?
Despite the identification of nine victims, the full scale of PC Alan Greer's crimes remains unknown. Police Scotland has launched "Operation Submarine" to encourage other potential victims to come forward, describing the inquiry as one of the most complex ever handled by the anti-corruption unit. Given that Greer reportedly used hundreds of sex workers over nearly two decades, there is a significant possibility that more victims exist who have not yet been identified.
Furthermore, it remains unclear how a mobile phone number used for criminal activity could remain absent from a police officer's persnnel file for so long . Whether this was a result of administrative negligence or a deliberate attempt by PC Alan Greer to bypass internal monitoring is a question that the current investigation must resolve to prevent future occurrences.
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