BBC is slammed over ‘crisis’ claims

The chairman of the Scottish Police Authority has accused the BBC of irresponsibly branding the force “in crisis”.

Susan Deacon, who heads up the body in charge of scrutinising Police Scotland, was responding to a documentary about the alleged suppression of critical elements of an internal report.

During an SPA board meeting yesterday, Ms Deacon gave an “absolute assurance” that any misconduct or corruption allegations would be looked into.

The “Force in Crisis” documentary, which aired on Monday, claimed the-then chief constable Sir Stephen House tried to scrub out damaging parts of a 2014 police review into unlawful and bad practices.

However, Ms Deacon said it was “utterly irresponsible” and completely unproven to say that Police Scotland was “somehow in crisis”.

She told the meeting the board had now received a “full written response and assurances” that the “largely historic” practices had been “dealt with”.

Meanwhile, a report to the SPA suggested the force could cut 1,200 officers without any negative impact on the service.

A former Fife officer said there is “absolutely no way” they could lose so many staff.

David Hamilton, from the Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, told The Sun: “The danger is people make operational decisions on what you need to police based on a spreadsheet rather than reality. Mistakes are made when people are overstretched.”

Police Scotland said no decision had been taken on the proposal.

SPA chief Susan Deacon.