New era for police

I am encouraged by the appointment of Iain Livingstone as Chief Constable of Police Scotland. It is reassuring to read that he acknowledges many of the mistakes made in the early days of the single service.

As we know, these mistakes were the result of political decisions made by the Scottish Government and

an ineffective SPA (Scottish Police Authority).

Because of the structures in place for policing Scotland, it would be foolish to hope that Mr Livingstone will have the full support that he needs.

Yes, on the face of it, he will – politicians will mouth the usual platitudes – but I suspect that they will be unable to refrain from interfering; the omens are not good. Whether the SPA can improve its dreadful performance is open to conjecture.

The police budget has been

cut, this means reductions in manpower which, of course, means that service is reduced. We have a recipe, if not for disaster, certainly for a much poorer service, ill equipped to meet the challenges facing it.

What we need is less political interference, an SPA that truly holds the Chief Constable to account whilst at the same time allowing him to decide priorities and make the changes that only he can deliver.

Scotland is crying out for a return to more localised policing which is responsive to the

needs of a varied population; let’s hope Mr Livingstone can deliver this.

LW TURNBULL Edderston Road, Peebles