Police chief says ‘errors’ let criminals who breached curfews avoid justice

SCOTLAND’S police chief has admitted the single force was responsible for ‘errors’ which allowed criminals to avoid justice after breaching tagging orders.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone yesterday said there had been poor communication between officers in relation to home detention curfews, and claimed the entire system had ‘evolved almost on an ad hoc basis’.

It follows widespread controversy surrounding the system which allows prisoners to serve part of their sentence at home while wearing an electronic tag.

Police Scotland are now to be handed new powers as ministers prepare to make remaining unlawfully at large a specific offence.

Mr Livingstone told Holyrood’s justice committee: ‘There were errors made. There was poor communication. There were different experiences in different parts of the country, and the information exchange was not as robust as it could have been

‘The status of a recall wasn’t always clear to officers and staff. And if anything, that’s an example of the lack of consistency nationally.’

At the end of June a report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) found there were 44 offenders considered to be ‘unlawfully at large’ after being released on home detention curfews – with 4 having been on the run for more than four years.

But due to communication failures 38 of these were not recorded as being at large on police systems, which meant officers were not looking for them.