WE CAN DO ANYTHING... BUT WE CAN’T DO EVERYTHING
Chief of crisis-hit Police Scotland say he’s conf ident despite challenges ahead... but the force must change
HIS force has been condemned as an organisation in crisis, facing a spate of investigations over failings and with staff morale at its lowest for years. Police Scotland also has an ‘elephant-sized’ budget gap of £47million for the next year – and that comes on the back of the collapse of a £60million IT project.
Phil Gormley, Scotland’s most senior officer, came out of early retirement for this. He has no choice but to acknowledge it is one of the most challenging tasks he has ever faced. But the Chief Constable is a man on a mission to make the force one of the best in the world – whatever it takes.
Following the midweek atrocity in Westminster, all eyes have been on counter-terrorism. Could Police Scotland cope?
‘We’re sitting here with the terrorism threat level at severe,’ he says. ‘We’ve seen outrages across Europe and on the UK mainland, we know there are people who wish us harm and thank God we’ve got officers prepared to volunteer to carry firearms to protect their fellow citizens and their colleagues.’
Last June, the force increased its armed police officers by about a third, from around 350 to 474, after warnings the country could not cope with a major terror attack.
‘There’s no doubt we need armed police. Should there be more officers routinely armed? I think we’ve got the right balance here.’
Gormley, 54, was at a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority when news broke of the Westminster atrocity and he dispatched his deputy, Johnny Gwynne, to Scotland’s specialist operational services, the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh, Lanarkshire.
THERE a centralised pool of experts – specialists in terrorism, serious and organised crime, as well as cyber attacks – offer Scotland some of the best capability in the UK because of what Gormley calls ‘economies of scale’. He says: ‘I want to protect Scotland, that’s what I want to do. We can do anything but we can’t do everything, as someone said to me during a meeting recently. That’s sort of the point for me.’
But he rules out deployment of armed officers to routine calls such as burger bar rammies and minor traffic bumps.
It’s a million miles from the controversial path trodden by his predecessor, Sir Stephen House. Yet he is clear that not only must his force change, the public must accept the nature of policing will change too.
No one going about their business on Thursday morning could fail to have spotted increased numbers of officers visible at key sites, including major transport hubs and crowded shopping areas.
But it is the sort of presence many would like to see all the time. Can it be delivered? ‘I think we need to be as ambitious as we can with the resources we have available. My job is to take the money given to me by government and turn it to policing effect,’ he says. His ambitious plans include:
Officers kitted out with personal body cameras
Police issued with smart devices capable of accessing everything from CCTV footage to medical records
Funding the new technology by pushing ahead with the merger of ‘back office’ departments
Bringing 300 officers from these departments back into frontline service on the streets
More investment in experts with specialist skills
Now 15 months into his three-year post, Gormley has visited every division and admits: ‘It’s a difficult job, and yes, it’s challenging.
‘But I don’t think I’m being naïve when I say I’m confident about the future. It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my professional life. The opportunity to create a world-class police service is why I’m here.’
He is in no doubt that, despite the controversies surrounding the birth of Police Scotland four years ago, a unitary force is right.
‘Crime threats are mutating and becoming less geographically bounded. Small forces are struggling to develop the capabilities and the capacity to keep people safe,’ he says.
One of the biggest challenges is persuading people left bewildered by the closure of local police stations to trust his judgment.
And earlier this month, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) announced an inquiry after a man’s body was found in his home near Stirling two days after his family raised concerns for his safety with the force’s Govan control room.
It follows other Pirc probes into the M9 tragedy when Lamara Bell was left dying by the roadside for three days following a car crash, in which her partner John Yuill died after a call from the public was not properly logged, and the death in custody of Sheku Bayoh.
Gormley wants more police officers visible on the streets and, if he can get his house in order to fund his long-term plan, he is convinced the public will back the changes.
WHAT might be low-level antisocial behaviour to you or I could actually be the difference between an individual being confident enough to remain in their own home safe and secure (or not), so we need to be really good at identifying what is relevant and responding accordingly,’ he says.
But to fulfil his vision, up to 400 police officers will be cut over the next three years and around 300 ‘back office’ staff, on administration-related duties, will be brought back into frontline services from departments which have so far avoided the mergers witnessed by the rest of the force.
‘It’s really clear to me we can take a lot of resource and money out of the bureaucratic back office and refocus that into frontline delivery,’ he adds. Body cameras have been piloted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray, leading to quicker prosecutions, a cut in malicious complaints and making evidencegathering clearer.
He also wants officers with smart phones and apps able, for example, to view CCTV footage; file crime reports; take photos of suspects and crime scenes which can be shared with colleagues and share details of wanted or missing people.
He hopes to challenge the rigid structure of the force providing a ‘job for life’ – to attract young IT talent, particularly those with analytical and cyber skills who can lend their talents to the force for a few years as they climb the career ladder.
Similarly, those near the end of private sector careers and ready to take a pay cut to enter the public sector would be sought out.
Gormley admits being ‘frustrated’ by the focus on overall reduction of police numbers. ‘I’m not saying we don’t need police officers, we always will. What I’m saying is that increasingly there is a role for staff who are not necessarily sworn, warranted officers with powers of arrest to make a really vital contribution to fighting crime and keeping people safe.’ His plans are all contained in a draft strategy document, Policing 2026, which was unveiled last month and which is now halfway through a ten-week consultation. So far, he says, feedback has been generally positive. He adds: ‘The focus on numbers obscures the real narrative, which is about improving productivity and availability of police officers. ‘You don’t judge an education system by the number of teachers in it. You judge it by the educational outcomes it delivers. ‘Increasingly, you don’t judge a police service simply by the number of officers you have in it. You should be judging it by whether it solves and reduces crime, and whether it keeps people safe.’