Scottish Government should investigate police register of ‘vulnerable’ people
I fear that the investigations into certain senior officers at Police Scotland and ongoing problems at the Scottish Police Authority may detract from a more necessary investigation into a deeper problem with the culture of policing in Scotland.
In particular, the failure to get a grip on a scandal which is likely to affect far more people in Scotland than the alleged behaviour of these individuals, the IVPD (Interim Vulnerable Persons Database), appears to be slipping beneath the radar.
In September it was revealed by a BBC investigation that 415,000 Scots had been entered onto the IVPD without their knowledge; moreover, the IVPD’S procedures contravened data protection laws.
Obvious questions arise regarding the true purpose of the database.
The questions over the IVPD run much deeper, however. Officers and/or civilian staff were able to devise and implement a database which did not operate within the law, without being stopped by senior officers; in turn, Police Scotland has been able to run that database for more than three years without the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), which knew about the IVPD, questioning them; and the SPA were not apparently asked by the Scottish Government, which has also known about the IVPD since its inception, to call Police Scotland to account. Systems of accountability, and lines of responsibility, seem to have all but disappeared, while Police Scotland continued on their merry way doing whatever they liked.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the acting Chief Constable recently admitted that Police Scotland does not, and never has had, an Ethics Board.
Cabinet Secretary for Justice Michael Matheson has so far refused to look into what went wrong, suggesting that the Scottish Government has no interest in ensuring that Police Scotland have procedures in place to prevent them operating outside the law and that the SPA has the ability, powers, or desire to properly monitor Police Scotland.
Surely Mr Matheson should be demanding better policing, for the benefit of all Scots. MARK NIXON Moray Street
Blackford Auchterarder