Key failures sparked fall in morale, admits new police chief
SCOTLAND’S stand-in police chief yesterday admitted the rushed creation of the single force had hit officers’ morale.
Iain Livingstone, Police Scotland’s deputy chief constable, said ‘we did not do enough to bring our people with us’ when the force was set up.
He has taken charge of the force after his boss, Phil Gormley, temporarily stepped aside amid investigations into bullying.
Mr Livingstone yesterday told MSPs there had been too little emphasis on ensuring that employees were well-treated.
The comments, which stoked speculation he is vying to replace Mr Gormley, are the most detailed public acknowledgment from such
‘Won’t make same mistakes again’
a senior figure that the pace of reorganisation under the SNP was detrimental to staff.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has told MSPs that many officers were too ‘scunnered’ by their working conditions to raise grievances as they believed nothing would change.
Mr Livingstone appeared before the justice sub-committee on policing to answer questions on internal complaints procedures.
The SPF highlighted a recent staff survey in which only 8 per cent of officers said they believed the service was genuinely interested in their well-being.
The organisation said the small number of grievances raised by officers indicated ‘a lack of confidence’ in the complaints process. Mr Livingstone said the timeframe for the creation of Police Scotland had been ‘very compressed’, adding: ‘We did not do enough to bring our people with us and I personally am committed to making sure that we don’t make the same mistakes again.’
He said he recognised the SPF ‘presented quite a challenging position – I am not in any way saying their concerns lack validity; what I am saying is we have begun to address them’.
Mr Livingstone said that while the force had got things wrong in the past, ‘there is an opportunity now to say, actually, a sustainable organisation is only going to last if we are investing in our people’.
Mr Livingstone said regular meetings with the SPF were being held to pick up its concerns.
The Professional Standards department within the force had been restructured, while the Counter-Corruption Unit (CCU) had been renamed the AntiCorruption Unit, he added.
The CCU was overhauled after allegations raised against its officers and a row over data breaches linked to journalists’ sources.
Mr Livingstone said the unit had been set up to look specifically at corruption of officers by organised crime but later ‘lost its focus’. He said: ‘The Anti-Corruption Unit now falls to my remit.’
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon insisted there is not a leadership ‘vacuum’ at the top of the force.
During First Minister’s Questions, Tory Edward Mountain said: ‘Can the First Minister tell us how she will ensure that the chief constable will retain or gain the respect of all those that he or she leads and serves?’
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Edward Mountain talked about a perception of a vacuum. We do not say to the public there is a vacuum of leadership because there is not.’