I am worried that we are heading towards a police state

BEYOND what I read in the

Scottish media I do not know the rights and wrongs of the suspension of Police Scotland’s Chief Scotland Constable Phil Gormley. What I do know is that he is entitled to be treated fairly and that his case should be treated lawfully.

I have always been an opponent of the SNP Government’s insistence contrary to all reasoned opposition on amalgamation of the former eight forces into one. Under the guise of cost savings, in reality it was to wrest oversight control from local police authorities around Scotland, who themselves were accountable to local communities, and invest it centrally under the direct control of the Justice Secretary who can effectively call the shots as and when the mood takes him.

Direct central political control of a national police is a hallmark sign of a dictatorship and police state. We seem to be heading that way with this SNP Government which seems to think it knows best in all matters as it sticks its nose into and takes control of every nook and cranny of citizens’ lives.

Beyond what I read in the

Scottish media, I do not know the extent to which Mr Matheson, the current Justice Secretary, involved himself directly in having Mr Gormley’s reinstatement shelved. What I do know is that any meetings where this was discussed should have been minuted so that we, in whose name Mr Matheson is entrusted with the power and privilege he has, should be able to see whether Mr Matheson acted legally or illegally (“SNP has ‘something to hide’ as no minutes taken during talks on Gormley”,

The Herald, January 12).

Education, health and justice. There will come a time when even this obnoxious centrist-obsessed SNP administration can no longer control the media exposure of the true extent of its incompetence. Alasdair Sampson,

The Pines,

7A Loudon Street,

Stewarton,

East Ayrshire.