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“Police Scotland and government officials tried to obstruct the academic research into stop and search that exposed the troubled crime policy.” – The story on Kath Murray’s PhD research regarding use of stop and search by police sparked much debate among our online commentators. “Suppression of research is concerning as is the wrong sort of collusion between government and police. UK generally isn’t good - by Western standards - at respecting ordinary people’s rights and privacy; continental police need far more evidence of serious crime to search home or PC than in UK.” “There is a wider issue here about government (UK and the Scottish) and funding bodies leaning on researchers not to publish or to suppress findings, and it doesn’t just appertain to this case.” “I recall people lauding the amalgamation of the regional police forces in Scotland because of the efficency savings gained. This I fear is the dark side of that outcome. Worringly when government and police collude to prevent data being released especially for benign research purposes then suspicions are raised. Be aware citizens of Scotland.” “It seems to me that Police Scotland is becoming a bit over-zealous with its powers and perhaps it is time that our senior politicians held them to account a bit more. I for one don’t want to stay in a country where the police on our streets are routinely armed and stop and search used at will.” “I have no issue with stop and search on reasonable suspicion.” Join the debate at heraldscotland.com