FORCE – A Contemporary Portrait of Scotland’s Police

The variety of roles that the Scottish police undertake - many beyond the awareness of the general public – made a lasting impression on James Holloway, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, after observing G8 protests along Edinburgh’s Queen Street in early July, 2005.

The Gallery approached the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) to participate in the creation of a photographic study of policing throughout Scotland that could fit into their programme of reflecting on aspects of everyday life in contemporary Scotland. In 2006, Edinburgh-based artist photographer Jane Brettle was commissioned to visit all eight Scottish Police Forces to observe and record a range of activities that police officers undertake to enhance the general public’s awareness of their many roles.

The outcome was a collection of 28 large-format photographs that looked at police officers at work – from the Asylum Liaison Unit in Strathclyde Police’s “E” Division to the Stranraer Ports Officers with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, including Max, the now retired Springer Spaniel.

Several of the collection’s photos look at the family life of Scotland’s police officers including one that shows the country’s most northerly-posted officer - Constable Scott Haig, with his wife and children at the Police House in Baltasound, Unst, in Shetland.

Brettle’s aim was to show the people behind the uniforms and that is very readily shown in the collection which the Association has purchased. The collection has been exhibited in a number of Police Force areas throughout the country for the past year and a half – from as far afield as Banff to Douglas, Stirling to Inverness, where it was on display at the Eden Court Theatre in February, 2009.


The FORCE Exhibition at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness.

The 28-photo collection will be exhibited at venues in a number of Police Force areas during 2009-2010 before being permanently displayed at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan. A booklet on the collection can be obtained from any of the eight Police Force Communications or Media Departments. Electronic versions as well as prints of varying sizes can be obtained by contacting the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

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