PC Alan Greer, a 47-year-old officer with Police Scotland, committed suicide on May 6 following his arrest for violent sexual crimes. The investigation, codenamed Operation Submarine, indicates Greer targeted women for 14 years, including female officers and sex workers.
The 2012 Glasgow home invasion and the delayed anti-corruption probe
The investigation into PC Alan Greer began with a woman who was raped in her Glasgow home in 2012, an attack that occurred after she contacted the police regarding an unrelated incident... According to the report, this specific breach of trust did not trigger a formal anti-corruption probe until late last year, highlighting a significant gap between the crime and the internal police response.
This delay suggests a systemic failure in how Police Scotland handled reports involving its own members.. The fact that a vicim was assaulted by the very authority she called for help underscores the extreme vulnerability of the targets PC Alan Greer selected during his 17 years of service .
A 2018 intelligence report and the evidence from Wishaw
A critical breakthrough in the case occurred when investigators linked PC Alan Greer to a mobile phone number that was missing from his official personnel file. As the report says, a 2018 intelligence report from a Glasgow sex worker had previously identified the owner of that number as a violent customer, but the identity of the individual remained unknown until the recent arrest of PC Alan Greer on April 24.
Following the arrest, a search of the Wishaw property belonging to PC Alan Greer led to the seizure of electronic devices. These devices reportedly contained hundreds of graphic videos and images, providing a digital archive of the officer's predatory behavior and his use of hundreds of prostitutes during his tenure.
Eight identified victims and the parallel to Wayne Couzens
Detectives have already identified at least eight victims of PC Alan Greer, some of whom suffered assaults so severe that they would have resulted in attempted murder charges had the suspect survived. The investigation has also revealed that PC Alan Greer targeted his own colleagues, allegedly taking inappropriate photographs of two female officers while they were in training.
The scale and nature of these crimes have led investigators to describe the situation as potentially "Police Scotland's Wayne Couzens moment." This refers to the high-profile UK case of a police officer who used his position of power to kidnap and murder a woman, reflecting a broader , terrifying trend of "predatory policing" where the badge is used as a shield for violent crime .
The missing link between the 2018 report and the April arrest
Despite the severity of the evidence, severaal critical questions remain. Most notably, it is unclear why the 2018 intelligence report from the Glasgow sex worker—which explicitly flagged the phone number's owner as violent—did not lead to the identification of PC Alan Greer sooner. The report does not clarify if other leads were pursued or if the intelligence was simply filed away without sufficient cross-referencing.
Furthermore, while Justice Secretary Neil Gray has called the case "terrible" and urged the public to maintain confidence in reporting crimes, the public is left wondering how many other victims exist beyond the eight identified. Because PC Alan Greer died by suicide before he could be interrogated, the full extent of his victim list may never be known unless more women come forward to Operation Submarine.
Comments 0