Overhaul police
Calum Steele, former General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, was on Radio Scotland yesterday in connection with the sad Emma Caldwell case, with a damning condemnation of policing in Scotland.
“Failure to be honest”, “governance needs to improve”, “lack of accountability” and “future policing in Scotland has lack of sustainability” are all comments from Mr Steele and it is shocking that a former police officer has come to this conclusion. Once again, a very senior police officer, an assistant Chief Constable, has apologised for the lack of accountability. These senior officers are paid vast salaries, in fact the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has a greater salary than the Prime Minister, and they are not accountable.
Strathclyde Police failed in the Caldwell case, Police Scotland also failed. There have been four Chief Constables since the SNP’S formation of Police Scotland in 2013 and as many Chairs of the SPA; this is not acceptable. Some Chief Constables are knighted despite failures and Iain Livingstone’s parting shot was to claim that Police Scotland had “institutional racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination” at its core. He was responsible for overseeing these failures and was knighted – why?
Scottish police are no longer investigating “minor” crimes. Police Scotland numbers have reduced, and senior officers are taking their pension and getting out. There is a senior executive team of about 17 people with an annual salary bill in the region of £3-4 million and it is not working. Calum Steele is correct, it would appear that the “sustainability” of Police Scotland is in doubt. Perhaps it is time to appoint him Chief Constable – an able, articulate and principled man, qualities it would appear are sadly missing in the organisation today.
Scotland had eight police forces accountable to local authorities. The SNP created Police Scotland to give them political control of one Chief Constable. It has been an abject failure and opposition parties must call for a complete overhaul of policing in Scotland.
Douglas Cowe Kingseat, Aberdeenshire