ONE of Scotland’s most senior police officers has called for local commanders to be allowed to set community policing priorities to improve the operation of the new single force.
Chief Superintendent Niven Rennie spoke out the day after former SNP leader Gordon Wilson demanded a “root and branch” reform of Police Scotland, which has been hit by a series of controversies and the abolition of the Scottish Police Authority set up to hold the force to account.
“Police Scotland has to release the corporate grip – which I believe was necessary for the first two years of Police Scotland – and allow localism to flourish. I believe that step would address the concerns of Gordon Wilson,” Rennie told The National.
His intervention coincided yesterday with a joint statement responding to Wilson’s criticisms from the force’s Chief Constable Sir Stephen House and the chairman of the Scottish Police Authority Vic Emery.
It said Wilson’s points did not take account of the “global and online threats” facing Scotland which “did not respect borders or boundaries” – and insisted the service did take account of local policing priorities.
“Communities and the public can and do have a pivotal influence in determining the local policing priorities specific to their own local area. The day to day activity of our local community policing teams is determined by the priorities the public tell us matter to them where they live,” the statement said.
It added the single force had allowed “an end to the postcode lotteries” in areas like domestic abuse and child protection, while the service was also “making unprecedented strategic investment” to prevent and investigate cyber crime.
Yesterday Rennie, who is president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, disagreed with Wilson’s assessment that the force was performing poorly but said there was a need for more “localism” and called for the scrapping of national priorities in areas such as drug crime.
“Centralised control was needed in the infancy but I think it now needs to be lessened a little. Instead it should now be up to local commanders to develop local policies appropriate for their communities.
“More autonomy should be given to local commanders...They should be able to change the local policing style to fit their communities.”
Police Scotland was created in 2013, and merged eight smaller forces into a single unified service.
But it was hit by a number of scandals including the arming of officers on routine duties and high levels of stop and search, including of children, prompting fears of public resentment.
The force also came in for severe criticism over the death in police custody of Sheku Bayoh in May.
Then in July police failed to respond to a report of a road accident on the M9 in which father-of-two John Yuill, 28, died and his passenger and girlfriend Lamara Bell, 25, was seriously injured.
Officers finally responded 72 hours later after a second call. Lamara, a mother-of-two from Falkirk, subsequently died in hospital. It emerged this week she was trying to escape the wreckage when the emergency services arrived at the scene and found her next to her dead boyfriend.
In his discussion paper Wilson also described the SPA as “toothless” and called for it to be scrapped, saying Holyrood’s justice committee could be given more resources to carry out the role.
But in the statement yesterday House and Emery rejected the criticism that the SPA was not carrying out its role properly.
It said that reform would be a “long journey” and added “All journeys have points where it looks more tempting to turn back than go on.”
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