Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 25 November 2020
I welcome the publication of Elish Angiolini’s report. Two years ago, Scottish Labour’s Daniel Johnson raised concerns about how police complaints were being handled. As yet, little appears to have happened to address that. We cannot delay in implementing the report’s findings.
When the then Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, Kate Frame, gave evidence to the Justice Committee in November 2018, she said:
“In one example, a complaint involving someone who had been unlawfully detained was recorded by the police as a quality of service complaint. In another example, an allegation of rape was recorded by the police as incivility. There is a further example in which someone was punched twice on the face, and that was recorded by the police as excessive force rather than as assault.”—[Official Report, Justice Committee, 6 November 2018; c 17.]
That is clearly unacceptable. It is important that the public have trust in the police. If there are complaints about the service, either from within the force or from the general public, they need to be dealt with openly and transparently.
In the short time that I have available, I will focus on our amendment, which highlights concerns about diversity. It is important that the make-up of the force reflects the community that it serves. There is some way to go for Police Scotland to achieve that. We acknowledge the targeted recruitment campaigns for groups that are underrepresented in the service, but more needs to be done.
The report makes worrying observations about the treatment of officers from minority groups. It highlights that black, Asian and minority ethnic people who joined the force tend to leave within a short number of years instead of pursuing a career in it. The report says:
“The evidence suggests that some officers and staff experience discriminatory conduct, attitudes, behaviours and micro-aggressions, both internally and externally, in the course of their duties. We heard that many of these incidents go unreported even though some of these behaviours constitute misconduct and that there was a reluctance in those Black, Asian and minority ethnic officers to report for fear of being characterised as ‘playing the race card’.”
Again, that is clearly unacceptable.
It is also clear that the drive to recruit more officers from diverse backgrounds has the aim of changing the culture of the organisation. Sadly, the culture that those officers are recruited to change is driving them away because it is discriminatory.
Similar attitudes towards female officers, of sexism and misogyny, have been spoken of by Rhona Malone. She is not the first female officer to raise those concerns, but the attitudes appear to persist throughout the force.
If those attitudes are held by officers in the force, they are being displayed by officers to the public. Such attitudes need to be met with zero tolerance, and I believe that the recommendation that the force be subject to a review by an independent organisation needs to be implemented urgently. Underlying institutional attitudes would not influence the outcome of such a review.
The police must have the confidence of the public, and our officers must have confidence in the force. Therefore, they are held to a higher standard than is the general public. A small minority can damage the reputation of the force and make the work of ethical officers much more difficult.
When racism, misogyny and discrimination are allowed to go unchecked, that creates a workplace that breeds such attitudes, and it cannot be put right by gestures. It requires a change in the institution’s culture, so we urge that the report’s recommendations are acted on urgently.
I move amendment S5M-23450.1, to insert at end:
“; notes with concern the findings in the report that there has been discriminatory treatment towards individuals and staff from minority groups, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, women and LGBTI people; agrees that Police Scotland should have a workforce that is reflective and representative of the communities that it serves; believes that the policies, procedures and practices of Police Scotland should promote and not hinder equalities issues, including a complaints procedure that is trusted by officers when they seek to raise equalities issues, and therefore calls for an independent review of equalities matters across the force, as recommended in the report.”
15:45Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.