Vow of silence should not be an option

Sir, - In the wake of the utter chaos resulting from the latest round of suspensions of top Scottish police officers, the justice secretary Michael Matheson was urged to ‘step out of the shadows and get a grip of Police Scotland’.

His downright dishonest response was to assert that it would not be appropriate for politicians to become involved in police management.

That was Matheson’s equivalent of an accused’s ‘no comment’ interview.

In this shambles many would contend that he doesn’t have the right to remain silent.

The truth is that the SNP created a national force here against the wishes of almost all the stakeholders.

They did so for no other reason than to centrally control the police service and to ensure that whenever the word police was uttered, the word Scotland would follow.

Then they went on to amalgamate the transport police – a move surely designed not only to get political control, but also to remove the word British from that arm of law enforcement.

Police Scotland’s senior management team was set up under the watchful eye of SNP ministers quite simply to do their bidding.

The fact that it is now disintegrating is entirely the responsibility of the SNP.

The SNP has murdered policing in Scotland in pursuit of its own nationalist, political ends.

You don’t need to be a detective to work that one out Mr Matheson. Jim Shaw. Hill Street, Dundee.

Picture: PA Wire Justice Secretary Michael Matheson is under fire.