Appendix

Scotland's Police Service - some reflections by The Very Revd Graham Forbes, HM Lay Inspector of Constabulary (1995-98)

1. Introduction

On 1 May, 1995 I started with HMIC. Within 2 days I was at Langholm, taking part in the primary inspection of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. I had already given up the Parole Board and was sitting in Langholm Police Station. The phone rang on the sergeant's desk. A chance I thought to check out how promptly and efficiently they responded to a 999 call. The emergency was light years away from the soap of The Bill or Prime Suspect: a cow was cheerfully making its way towards the high street, and Langholm's traffic had ground to a halt. The arrival of the police car caused the cow to speculate on the future of its existence, and it was last seen heading across the fields and for the hills. Problem solved. The locals laughed and life returned to normal, leaving the poor farmer to go off in search of his lost cow. One PC, desperate to impress chirped up: "Provost, you'll be more used to lost sheep!" About 30 minutes later we stopped about 5 miles short of Lockerbie. Here, above that quiet town where most of the wreckage of the Pan Am flight had reached its final resting place, a small outbuilding in the church yard had been beautifully and simply renovated and was the memorial to the victims. The thick, leather bound Book of Remembrance contained on separate pages in alphabetical order just the name, the age and the country of origin of each victim. I remember standing there and crying. That brief interlude encapsulated for me the demands facing the Scottish police service - the need to be there for the expected (the daily diet of police work) and the totally unexpected (the horrendous carnage of international terrorism or civil emergency).

My 3 years with HMIC convinced me that Scotland has a police service of which we should be both proud and grateful and which rises to such challenges in a professional and sensitive way. There are a number of common recurring themes that emerge from having taken part in primary inspections of all our police forces.

2. Complaints and Discipline

1. Part of HM Lay Inspector's role and responsibility is to pay particular attention to the ways in which an individual force handles complaints made against its officers and also to review cases where a complainer remains dissatisfied with a force's investigation of the complaint. Unlike south of the border, Scotland has no Police Complaints Authority (PCA), and the responsibility for the investigation of a complaint falls to the DCC of the force concerned. I have found no evidence to support that our Scottish system is anything other than sound and worthy of public confidence.

2. Investigating Officers' (IO) reports to the DCC in the vast majority of cases have been professional, impartial and thorough. In Scotland there is the additional safeguard (when a complaint alleges criminality) of the involvement of the (independent) Regional Procurator Fiscal (RPF). With the exception of one force where chief inspectors are used, most investigations are carried out by IOs with the rank of inspector, and for the generality of investigations this is the appropriate rank for the IO. Of course every force uses more senior officers or officers from another force if the particular case so merits.

3. A number of complainers do remain dissatisfied after a force's investigation of their complaint(s) and refer their complaint to HMIC. When this happens, HM Lay Inspector studies the case, receives copies of all documents from the force, may decide to visit the force and then submits a report to HMCIC. In roughly 50% of such cases HMIC after studying all the files writes to the complainer explaining that we are satisfied with the force's handling of the complaint and explaining why we have reached that view. In the balance of cases HMIC feels that more information is required and asks the force to provide this. With that additional information we are most often satisfied that the investigation has been properly conducted. In a very small minority of cases we remain dissatisfied with a force's investigation of the complaint (or parts of that investigation) and tell both the complainer and the force why we remain dissatisfied: in these cases the force has always addressed the shortcomings we have found in its response to the complainer and apologised to the complainer for these shortcomings. In these small number of cases the involvement of HMIC has been able to uphold the views of the complainer, and the force concerned has always accepted HMIC's determination without question.

4. Many allegations are made at police office charge bars and cell complexes. The advent of CCTV with sound in our police offices where prisoners are detained is a most welcome development, and forces are to be commended for this. I have seen tapes where the complainer on seeing the video evidence unreservedly withdraws the allegation. Viewing these tapes also reveals how much verbal abuse and physical danger our police and civilian staff are subjected to as they carry out their lawful duties. The use of video to record house searches by drug squad officers is also to be commended.

5. A praiseworthy recent trend in DCCs' final letters to complainers is an increasing willingness to give more information about how the investigation was carried out and the reasons for reaching the conclusions that were reached. Equally praiseworthy is the way that DCCs will act on shortcomings identified by an IO's Report, even though these shortcomings may have nothing to do with the index complaint.

6. Complaint allegations are very much part and parcel of contemporary policing. Criminals do not like being arrested. Misunderstandings do occur, and on occasion police officers do not live up to the very high professional standards we, the public, rightly expect of them. Scotland's police forces demand the highest professional standards of their officers and in the light of my 3 years experience will deal with any officer who falls short of these standards.

7. To any who argue that system of investigating complaints is no more than the police investigating themselves (and by implication protecting their own), the report of the inquiry into Grampian Police following the murder of Scott Simpson, must alter their view. This investigation was undertaken by senior officers from another force and is indicative of the way investigating officers conduct a professional inquiry designed purely and simply to get at the truth. HMIC for its part has had no hesitation in returning to a force an IO's report which falls short of that standard. In my view the system for investigating complaints against Scottish police officers is robust.

3. Getting more officers on the beat

1. The Scottish police service has embraced civilianisation with varying degrees of enthusiasm over the last 3 years. Many essential police functions do not require the specialist training and powers of a police officer. This fact, combined with generous Scottish Office funding, has driven chief constables to move increasing numbers of police officers away from desks and on to the beat or other operational duties. The 7 primary inspections revealed that this movement is proceeding with speed in some forces and at a slightly slower rate in others. Too often, for example in force headquarters, middle ranking and senior officers were doing jobs that should be done by appropriately trained (and qualified for the particular task) civilian staff. Or again in one force sergeants cooking meals for prisoners is a totally inappropriate task for this supervisory rank and should be done by civilian turnkeys. It must also be said that a number of civilianised posts do tend to get filled by retiring / retired police officers, and where this happens it can adversely affect the career development opportunities of civilian support staff, an important consideration in the integration of civilian staff.

2. Operations such as Strathclyde Police's Operation Spotlight show how local commanders can get more officers out on to the street and by so doing combat crime and increase public confidence and safety. Central Scotland Police's decision to have some single officer traffic cars to heighten the policing profile is another example of the creative use of a finite resource, as is that Force's use of non-traffic officers to operate radar to combat speeding.

3. Best practice, and there are examples throughout Scotland, is not simply getting more officers out on the streets, but deploying those officers in a targeted way to catch criminals and protect people and property. Recently there has been renewed emphasis on community policing and on inspections we saw innumerable examples of how community policing not only heightened the police profile and re-established closer links with the community, but also was a most useful source of local criminal intelligence.

4. Best practice, and the number of examples is growing, is when all police resources (CID, traffic, budget, as well as beat officers) are fully devolved to the control of the local commander, who in consultation with local councillors and others devises and implements a policing plan for the individual needs of the area. This devolution enables both local accountability and best use of local resources.

5. I am a great supporter of police officers being seen out on patrol and undertaking those duties for which police officers have been trained. What I have found in most police offices are mounds of witness citations requiring to be hand delivered by police officers. This cannot be an efficient use of police officers.

4. The Scottish Police Officer

1. Joining the night shift briefing at 2230 in Falkirk or Nairn or Easterhouse or Dalgety Bay - to cite recent examples - gives a series of snapshots of the Scottish police officer. He and (in increasing numbers) she are (also in increasing numbers) graduates, are young and keen and want to serve their communities. The increasing flexibility and responsibility accorded to local commanders to make the best use of their officers offer them the challenge to make a difference to policing their local communities, be they large sprawling estates or largely isolated rural areas.

2. The Scottish Police College is a shining example of the Scottish Police Service at its best. Excellent facilities complemented by forward thinking staff ensure that the training offered is designed for the next century and not the previous one. Each force understandably wishes to retain its autonomy, but the success of the College (and indeed the Scottish Crime Squad and other central police services) indicates the scope for collaborative working. The millennium must see greater use of distance learning masterminded by the College.

3. I would like to think there are detectable signs of movement away from the macho male canteen culture. There most certainly has been a culture shift in regard to domestic violence with it being seen for what it is - assault and not "It's just a domestic." An equal opportunities policy is certainly on every force's agenda, and strides are being made. Nevertheless it is an indictment of the system that one force was unable to transfer one woman police officer to a different command area (which had vacancies for police officers) so that she could be nearer her fiancé.

4. The policing of Scotland's rural areas makes special demands on officers and their families where the shift pattern of towns and cities is replaced by a 24 hour presence. Both chief constables and the Police Federation have wrestled long and hard about establishing an equitable and transparent transfer policy for officers working in the rural areas. It does not seem too much to ask that a clear, fair and transparent transfer policy exist in every force.

5. Not every police officer wishes to sit promotion exams and aspire to higher rank, but many do. Not every police officer wishes to specialise in CID or traffic for example, but many do and the chance to specialise is one way of developing an officer's potential and aptitude. Again it does not seem too much to ask that a clear, fair and transparent policy for specialisation and promotion exist in every force.

6. In some of our smaller forces inevitably such opportunities to develop experience are rarer simply because of the size of the force. There exist of course some opportunities for central service, but I do find it disappointing that more opportunities do not exist for officers seeking to develop themselves and their careers to move to a different force for promotion or for specialisation.

7. 1995-98 have witnessed improvement in the use of appraisal. This is a process that will need continued effort over the coming years. The introduction of career development units in forces should ensure that a clear focus on appraisal is maintained.

8. The Scottish police officer is better equipped than ever before. The new extendible baton and especially the "quick cuffs" have improved officer safety and are to be welcomed. The wisdom of CS gas (currently under trial in Scotland) becoming part of an officer's routine equipment I find more questionable. In all forces ACPOS guidelines for the authorisation of police firearms are followed immaculately, and the selection of and the training given to Authorised Firearms Officers are most professional.

9. I must have met hundreds of police officers and civilian staff over the last 3 years. HM Lay Inspector's responsibilities in regard to complaints against the police touch a very small number of them. The vast majority do a very good job. Anecdotally I know that the husband and children appreciated traffic officers sensitively explaining what happened in the fatal accident where their loved one died. Similarly there is appreciation for the support and care given to the mother and children by police and social workers during the investigation (and conviction) of husband / father for sex offences. What is not anecdotal evidence is the fact that Scottish forces receive infinitely more letters of appreciation than of complaint.

5. Crime

1. Recent trends indicate both a decrease in the amount of recorded crime and an increase in detection rates. It would be a bold police officer that would claim sole responsibility for such a decrease, but it would appear that a combination of intelligence driven approaches to crime and of a stronger presence of officers in the community is making an impact.

2. Good practice is when crime detection and crime prevention go hand in hand and are not compartmentalised and when both these key elements are fully integrated into the division's or sub-division's policing plan and under the control of and working to the divisional commander. Bad practice is when as we were told at a night shift briefing in one force that they never see the CID.

3. The fight against the menace and scourge of drugs is a relentless one, and the Scottish police service has had notable successes in this fight, resulting in seizures of drugs and long sentences for dealers. The tragic death of a Customs Officer at sea and the discovery of a drugs factory at Bettyhill illustrate how even the north of Scotland is not immune to this menace. 1997 for example had 28 drugs related deaths in the Grampian Police area. Shortly before our primary inspection of Grampian in March headlines such as "Leader of heroin gang is jailed for 18 years" indicate the seriousness of the problem and also a notable success on the part of Grampian Police's Drug Squad and officers of the Scottish Crime Squad in securing his arrest and subsequent conviction. Heroin with an estimated street value of £1.5 million was seized by the police during this operation. Clearly all who were involved are to be warmly commended.

4. But there are also some unsung heroes in the fight against crime. Architectural liaison officers for example might not appear to be in the front line, but their involvement at the design stage of a shopping development or a housing estate can certainly reduce the risk of crime.

5. The victim of crime wishes to see the culprit caught and justice dispensed. Witness protection schemes have played a vital role in the judicial process in certain high profile cases, but for the vast majority of victims of crime a wall of silence falls around the case after the initial reporting and investigation and nothing may be heard for months. A victim need not necessarily know if / when the case is coming to court. Certain forces through their crime management systems do update victims on how a case is progressing, but this is not universal. The fiscal service and the police need to determine how this can be achieved and who is going to pay for it and who is going to do it.

6. The role of HMIC

1. HMIC embraces a number of functions. Individual police forces are inspected, and thematic inspections (eg Domestic Violence, The Police and IT) undertaken. Dissatisfied complainers can ask HMIC to consider their complaint. HMIC offers professional advice to the Secretary of State on policing matters of the day and on the appointment of chief officers.

2. Internal reform of the inspection process has enabled more focused use of HMIC. Greater emphasis is now placed on the primary inspection (which happens every three years). Every HQ function of a force is scrutinised and (depending on the size of the force) a number of divisions inspected. No door is closed; no file refused. Police forces may at times view an inspection rather like a long course of root treatment at the dentist, but every force does everything to enable HMIs carry out the inspection in the way we wish. The inspectoral function is two fold: to identify shortcomings and to highlight good practice. Any shortcoming results in a recommendation. HMCIC and HM Lay Inspector, assisted by the lead staff officer, spend considerable time drafting recommendations, and I do find it surprising that a chief constable does not have to respond formally to the Secretary of State explaining how the force is going to implement the recommendation or what other action is going to be taken to meet the concern identified by the recommendation.

3. Thematic inspections of central services (such as the College) or of issues common to all forces are a vital contribution that HMIC makes to promoting good practice within Scotland. Reports on domestic violence or civilianisation are good examples of how common wisdom and practice can be pooled and shared to enhance the whole. However, for example in IT, it is surprising that many forces are still attempting to invent or reinvent the wheel in their own backyard. It cannot be efficient that there are insufficient resources for the largest Scottish police force to develop satisfactory IT support. It cannot be efficient for the divisional commander of the largest division in another force telling us at inspection that his division basically did not bother with the IT system, nor officers in a third force informing us that it took so long to gain access that they usually had time to leave the station and answer a few calls. That IT is an invaluable tool for the police is beyond reasonable doubt. What remains in doubt is that the current provision of disparate IT systems is the most efficient and effective for Scotland's police forces.

4. A major responsibility of a (joint) police board is the selection of its chief police officers. A PABS working party on which I serve reports shortly. What is clear from the primary inspections is that there is no shortage of talent within the ranks of the Scottish police service and that every effort must be made to nurture that talent so that appointing boards have a large pool of qualified talent from which to choose. More difficult for boards is the need to strike some kind of balance between the requirements of their force and that of the police service as a whole, for the Scottish police service also needs a pool of ACCs young enough to be appointed in due course chief constables anywhere in the UK. HMCIC must be allowed a key role in all chief officer appointments.

7. The future

1. It is a fact of Scottish police life that some of our divisions have more officers and civilian staff than some of our forces. It is also a fact that all of our forces have budgets in excess of most Scottish firms. The responsibilities placed on chief constables, including financial responsibilities, mean that they must have up-to-date accurate financial information to enable the most efficient use of central and local government funding. At the last primary inspection I was involved in it emerged that the force had a 7 figure underspend and nobody really knew its true level nor the reasons for it. Most Scottish companies even with a relatively modest turnover have a professionally qualified accountant at board level; too few of our police forces have appropriate financial management expertise at force executive level.

2. In my view, the next few years will see a reduction in the number of Scottish police forces and I would support such a reduction. There would be savings in headquarters functions if such a rationalisation were to take place, but such savings should be used to put more officers on the beat in a policy driven way. The amalgamation of smaller forces into larger ones would facilitate staff (both officer and civilian) development and with a larger critical mass enable chief constables to deploy resources where they are most needed.

3. A smaller number of forces should not however be seen as a more centralised police structure and more remote from communities. At the core of policing should be the divisional command unit whose boundaries ideally should coincide with that of its local authority, thus enabling a truly corporate and locally accountable approach to policing, geared to meet the special needs of the area, yet always able to draw on the centre for additional support. The divisional commander in effect becomes the local "chief constable" in all day-to-day aspects of policing, leaving the force executive to take a proper strategic overview for the entire force area.

8. Conclusion

1. Dunblane is one event that remains very much in my thoughts. I have found it immensely reassuring that certain guns have now been banned and most sobering to see hundreds of firearms that were surrendered during the hand-in periods and now destined for the foundry for destruction.

2. The departure of Grampian's Chief Constable earlier this year shows that the partnership and trust between board and chief constable, between the police and the communities they seek to serve, are essential. The Scottish Parliament may well chose to explore how this accountable partnership can best be created and sustained.

3. Semper Vigilo is the motto of the Scottish police service. One example of this constant vigilance and preparedness for the unexpected happened during the primary inspection of Lothian and Borders Police. A burst water tank had flooded parts of the Force HQ which caused the Force control room's duties to be transferred to the pre-determined divisional HQ's control room. Minutes later there was a firearms' incident involving the call out of the armed response vehicle. The system worked. My 3 years with HMIC have certainly revealed the truth of Semper Vigilo.