Scottish Government
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Police Inspectorate Annual Report published

More areas of specialist policing - such as counter-terrorism, specialist fire-arms support, motorway policing and air support - should be provided at a national level, according to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Paddy Tomkins.

In the Inspectorate's Annual Report, published today, Mr Tomkins suggests that a national solution for such important but small volume policing activity would help to improve and sustain local and community policing by freeing up capacity and resources within local forces.

Other key points include:

  • The Scottish Government should set up a confidential registry to allow agencies to share information for child protection
  • The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) could provide additional support services such as recruitment, legal services and some financial services
  • Licensing Boards should consider formalised definitions of "overprovision" and methods for identifying areas where the number of licensed premises has reached saturation level
  • All relevant public services need to work together to tackle alcohol related violence to make sure recent legislation is used to its best effect
  • The policing in most areas is as good as it's ever been and in some it's quite significantly better

HM Chief Inspector Paddy Tomkins said:

"Scottish Policing is at a stage of its development where there are many opportunities and influences which could combine to make it not only good, but world class.

"Although the majority of policing activity needs to be locally based, locally commanded and locally accountable, we are conscious that there are several very important, albeit relatively small, policing responsibilities that most forces are unable to take on alone.

"A strong and competent national level of capability is required so that people in every part of Scotland receive the same service. Up to now, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) has shown that such an achievement is possible when it comes to tackling serious and organised crime proactively.

"One of the future challenges will be to build an appropriately accountable national framework that can do the same for other specialist forms of policing such as counter-terrorism, specialist fire-arms support, motorway policing and air support.

"We believe the establishment of the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) to be potentially one of the most important developments within the police service in Scotland of this generation.

"SPSA could provide all or part of the framework at a national level to provide, procure or co-ordinate other support services which can't be provided effectively or efficiently by individual forces. Obvious candidates that might be better organised nationally include recruitment, legal services and some financial services.

"In our view creating a robust national solution for the important but relatively small volume of policing, and support services, that could be managed above force level, is one way of improving and sustaining local policing."

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (commonly known as the Police Inspectorate or HMIC) is responsible for inspecting the eight Scottish police forces and five police services. HMIC operates independently of the Police Forces, Police Authorities and the Scottish Government and exists to monitor and improve the police services in Scotland.

 

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