JUSTICE Secretary Humza Yousaf has said a call for an independent panel to deal with misconduct complaints against senior Police Scotland officers will be taken “very seriously”.
The suggestion came from former lord advocate Dame Elish Angiolini QC as she gave evidence on Monday to Holyrood’s Justice Committee on her interim report into police complaint handling and misconduct allegations. She used the phrase “too cosy” to describe the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) dealing with misconduct allegations against senior officers, who attend SPA board and committee meetings.
Yousaf told the same committee yesterday said that he would urgently address the issue after concerns raised by Angiolini. He said: “There’s a small handful of senior officers who work quite closely with the SPA. At the very least there could be a perception that there is familiarity and the relationship is too cosy.”
On Angiolini’s call for an independent panel, he added: “I think it’s something I will take as a matter of urgency in terms of my conversations with partner organisations because I think even the perception of the relationships being too cosy is not good for public confidence.”
He said Angiolini’s recommendation to have a working group on the matter was “hugely important” in terms of raising public confidence in policing and that there should also be a one-stop shop for members of the public to understand the complaints procedure.
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