The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Police force promotions on the up
The police forces of Tayside and Fife have been promoting officers in the run-up to the creation of a new single Scottish police service despite a senior officer warning that the practice could be a waste of public money.
THE POLICE forces of Tayside and Fife have been promoting officers in the run-up to the creation of a new single Scottish police service despite a senior officer warning that the practice could be a waste of public money.
Sixteen officers in Tayside and 20 in Fife have been moved up the career ladder since January despite the possibility they could be surplus to the requirements of the new Scotland-wide service.
The Tayside and Fife appointments — to temporary and permanent posts — are among more than 180 promotions in Scotland’s eight forces since the start of this year.
Hundreds of officers in promoted posts could be retired on generous terms when the new all-scotland force becomes operational nextapril, if it is found there are too many promoted officers of the same rank.
David O’connor, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, has called for a moratorium on all promotions and believes the practice is immoral. The issue was set to be discussed at the association conference which started yesterday.
The Scottish Government has banned promotion to chief constable, assistant and deputy ranks before the creation of the single force but has not prevented promotion to lower positions. Scotland’s fire brigades have had a moratorium on all promotions since last September.
Mr O’connor believes chief constables should be making temporary promotions instead of permanent ones to ease pressure on public funds in the event of retirements. The severance terms of temporarily promoted officers would be based on their lower salaries.
He said: “It can’t be in the public interest to continue these substantive promotions that will have an immediate and ongoing cost impact for the future. We understand that promotion is a matter for the chief constables but our opinions are not based on self-interest but on the economic situation and recognition of the inequitable impact this is having on police staff who are likely to bear the brunt of reductions in posts. It can’t be morally right that substantive promotions continue when there could be something like 2,000 police civilian staff in Scotland facing redundancy.
“My view is that chief officers should be thinking of future convergence and filling promoted posts accordingly. Forces like Tayside and Fife may need to promote to keep their numbers up but with the single police force on the horizon they should be promoting to temporary posts.”
A spokeswoman for Tayside Police said: “We have promoted officers both temporarily and substantively in response to operational need to maintain appropriate policing levels across the force area. We are required by the Scottish Government to maintain our police officer level at at least 1,229 in order to maintain our funding.
“Therefore, when officers leave or retire this creates organisational gaps which must be filled to maintain the integrity of our operation. Some of these gaps make promotions necessary, however we have done this on a temporary basis where possible.”
A spokesman for Fife Constabulary said they have promoted 20 officers to permanent posts since January.
“The balance of any force, as far as different ranks are concerned, is important to the smooth and efficient running of that force and the chief constable has a responsibility to ensure that policing continues to deliver the excellent service that the people of Fife have come to expect,” he said.