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2.1 The variety in approach evident from considering other systems demonstrates that no single jurisdiction offers a panacea for the complex issues that surround complaints against the police. As discussed in the initial Section of Part II, all complaints systems can reasonably be regarded as an amalgamation of independent oversight, police investigation, external investigation and government overview.
2.2 Indeed, in practice, systems which profess independence are in many ways still reliant on police investigation and assistance, while the outcomes of other systems are not remarkably different from the system in Scotland. It is not possible to make relative judgements simply by comparing the ratio of police officers charged or convicted as a proportion of the level of complaints as undoubtedly there will be a number of factors affecting such statistics. However, by way of example, it is worth recording that a comparison between Scotland (with the regional procurators fiscal exercising their investigative function) and the Republic of Ireland (with its Garda complaints board) provides no evidence for arguing that the system in the Republic of Ireland offers any stronger prospect of a successful criminal prosecution against an officer subject to complaint.
2.3 The present experience in Northern Ireland also provides reminders of the expense and resource implications involved in creating a new police complaints body. Financial estimates are understood to have more than trebled from the original £2 million, while training and staffing demands have been equally difficult. It is likely that funding will be at the expense of existing police budgets, with a consequent impact on operational police services, thus limiting any flexibility that "opportunity costs" might allow.
2.4 In the Scottish context, any newly created body would be faced with the logistical problems of administering and investigating complaints throughout the country. The citizen who wishes to register a complaint at an isolated location in northern Scotland would be unlikely to be satisfied if told to contact an ombudsman based in Edinburgh. Local police and regional fiscals have long established experience and awareness which any newly created body might take many years to acquire. They are also located in existing premises throughout Scotland.
2.5 Viewed in terms of the "complaints spectrum", HMIC considers that while the system of police complaints in Scotland may be perceived as being positioned toward the self-regulatory end, in reality it is somewhere around the centre. Those who wish to see a system, both in reality and perception, closer to the external investigation end of the spectrum may consider that some new body or office should be established. Alternatively, improved democratic oversight by police authorities, clearer separation between the role of the police and that of the Crown, improvement and standardisation in police practice and wider understanding of the system through publication and debate may achieve further movement. HMIC has made recommendations in Part I of this report which are designed to achieve this purpose.
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