Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 25 November 2020
I start at what I consider to be the beginning and with what should be emphasised: our police officers do an often difficult job very well indeed. We should always remember that and that we are fortunate in Scotland to have them. We should be thankful for the work that they do.
Individual police officers, far less the whole of Police Scotland, do not always get things right—of course they do not. However, since I became an MSP in 2016, I can say that local police commanders have always been ready and willing to look at specific constituency cases that I have raised with them. They have considered them and they have acted if something has not been dealt with as it ought to have been. The issues have varied considerably, from rural constituents’ concerns that the police were not there for them to disagreements between cyclists and others that perhaps went too far on one side or the other—I say that as both a pedestrian and cyclist.
Policing is about duty, about responsibility to the people of Scotland and about treating whoever comes into contact with the police, for whatever reason, with fairness and respect. The word “whoever” does not need qualification or definition, because it includes everyone in Scotland. It is not the job of the police to take sides with individuals against others—quite the opposite. The police must be confirmed and protected in their neutrality from any attempts by individuals or organisations to involve them in what are essentially political disputes. In a democracy, the place to resolve political disputes is here in Parliament.
The duty and responsibility of the police is to apply the law without fear, favour or affection towards anyone or any cause. That does not mean, of course, that the police have no discretion in how, when, where and why they approach the application of the law. Using such discretion can be a difficult part of any job, and it may be where Police Scotland has sometimes fallen down, including internally.
As Dame Elish Angiolini found, there is not only room but a need for improvement. All the recommendations that she makes in her report should be considered carefully. That includes, for example, understanding how an increase in powers for the PIRC could work. Greater independence within a complaints and investigation process should be a good thing, provided that an intelligent and informed understanding of policing is applied in that context, especially given that we have seen attempted interference in such processes by Government in the past.
It would also be welcome if the Scottish Government were to collaborate with the UK Government in understanding and seeking to apply in the Scottish context some of the useful lessons that have been learned from the English experience, while avoiding any repetition of mistakes that may have unintentionally happened in England.
At the end of the day, however, considered reforms encouraged by the recommendations will be futile unless wider structural issues and funding deficits for Police Scotland are resolved. The centralisation of administration and cuts in funding under the Scottish National Party Government have had a huge number of negative knock-on effects. I hope for, and look forward to, real action for real people in respect of the report and its consideration.
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