Police Scotland’s lot is not a happy one
New chief constable has his work cut out to restore public trust in a force so riven by repeated scandals
The establishment of Police Scotland was sold by ministers as a visionary leap forward that would ensure a service fit for purpose. In fact, the formation of a single national police force – replacing eight regional forces and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency – was a poorly considered cost- cutting exercise.
In the five years since Police Scotland’s inception, it has been rocked by scandal after scandal. In some instances – the failure to locate a dying crash victim for a number of days, for example – these scandals have thrown up serious questions about whether the service is properly resourced.
In other instances, the routine deployment of armed officers or effective abolition of previously established “tolerance zones” in Edinburgh have raised questions over whether the force has become faceless and unaccountable.
What Police Scotland desperate - ly needs is a period of calm. This would benefit not only staff who, since day one, have been riding a rollercoaster, but also members of the public whose faith in the force has been sorely tested.
It would appear this period of calm is to remain an aspiration. According to a BBC Scotland inves- tigation, Police Scotland attempted to suppress a report with allegations of serious corruption and criticism of the senior leadership team.
The corporation claims that early drafts of the report, commissioned by former Chief Constable Sir Stephen House amid concerns that bad practices and unlawful behaviour in some of those forces which merged to create the national service had been carried on, are said to show the chief ’s office wanted negative comments deleted and text altered to create the impression problems raised had already been fixed.
The BBC’S report will do nothing to assuage fears that Police Scotland is a law unto itself.
The recently appointed chair of the Scottish Police Authority, Susan Deacon, is expected to hold officers to a higher standard than they may be accustomed to. We hope she is as rigorous as possible.
Nobody now serving in Police Scotland should believe that the old culture of secrecy and cover- up is in any way acceptable. Acting Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, expected soon to be confirmed as the force’s most senior officer, should be in no doubt about the scale of the task he faces in rebuilding trust that has been so recklessly damaged.