CRITICS have slammed the country’s crisis-hit police watchdog for “pretending all is well when it clearly isn’t”.
In its latest annual assessment, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) said Police Scotland continues to provide “a high-quality” service across the country, with crime rates falling in most categories.
It also found oversight of policing had been strengthened by the SPA board, which has “enhanced its skills and experience in key areas such as finance, audit and ICT, and reinforced its grip of the police budget and oversight of key change programmes like call handling”.
However, the LibDems and Tories said the report failed to address problems within both organisations.
The SPA has been fiercely criticised over the past few months amid concerns over transparency and governance. Chair Andrew Flanagan resigned last week as pressure mounted over a bullying row.
Meanwhile, Police Scotland and the SPA have come under fire over weak financial leadership, a multi-million pound budget deficit and the failure of a £46 million IT system.
LibDem justice spokesman Liam McArthur said the report was a “disservice” to police officers and “pretends that all is well when it clearly isn’t”, while Tory MP Douglas Ross said: “For the SPA to praise policing in Scotland and give themselves a slap on the back at the same time is staggering.
“There are clearly problems within Police Scotland at present and pretending they don’t exist will not help address any of them.”
The review found the force dealt with 2.6 million calls during the year, up 1.1 per cent on the previous year, and recorded 1.6 million incidents.
There was a 2.4 per cent decrease in recorded crime and the force saw a slight decrease in overall violent crime.
However, some non-sexual violent crimes, including serious assaults, robberies, threats and extortion, went up 5.2 per cent and sexual crime rose by the same level.
Meanwhile, public confidence levels reported by Police Scotland stood at 81 per cent but there is recognition more data is needed in this area.
Flanagan, who will remain in post until his successor is appointed, said: “SPA has assessed that Police Scotland met its annual objectives and continued to deliver a service to a high quality and consistency.
“The Policing 2026 programme has provided unprecedented insight into what we do now, what we will require to do in the future, and how to move from one to the other.
“The strategy aims to ensure that policing is organised, skilled and flexible enough to respond to wider societal needs and sophisticated threats. We have good foundations for progressing to the next crucial phase of true service transformation.”
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