News

Wednesday 7 September 2011
WAY FORWARD FOR SCOTTISH POLICE SERVICE

Chief Constable Kevin Smith, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, responds to the Scottish Government's announcement that a single Scottish police force is to be created.

THE people of Scotland should be confident that they will continue to have the highest standard of policing as the service embarks on its biggest ever period of change.

Chief Constable Kevin Smith, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, gave this assurance as he responded to a Scottish Government announcement that a single Scottish police force is to be created.

Mr Smith said that he and his fellow leaders of the police service will ensure that the people of Scotland will continue to have high quality policing both during and after the period of considerable change.

He added: “It is for the Scottish Government and the Parliament to decide on the policing structure in Scotland and today we have heard that there is to be a single police service.

“For over a year there has been significant debate over the structural options with many different opinions on the best fit for the future. The decision has been made and for us the debate on that is now over. As the leaders of the service we are now firmly behind that decision and it is our responsibility, our duty, along with Scottish Government, to make this work for the people of Scotland and the men and women of the Scottish Police Service.”

The Chief Constable of Central Scotland Police said that he will lead the effective programme of reform which he and his colleagues will develop along with Scottish Government and Police Authorities.

Mr Smith continued: “We will be ambitious in our move towards a new service but we will also be realistic and recognise the scale and complexity of this huge task, while continuing to provide our business as usual, which is first class, high performing policing.

“Policing has adapted and improved over the last generation; we haven’t simply stood still. Designing a new single structure for Scottish policing will allow us to continue that improvement and ensure we have a modern, highly adaptive service which continues to deliver an excellent service and perform highly now and into the future, well able to deal with any emerging threats. We also need to recognise that we are doing this in a period of significant financial constraint and it is right that we ensure that we are as efficient as we can be within our budget.

“Policing will remain built upon strong community relationships and strong partnerships; it must remain local in every sense with local officers in communities, who know the public and in whom the public have trust and confidence. The restructuring provides us with opportunities to further enhance our capacity for modern threats, not just now but in the future, such as serious organised crime, counter terrorism, complex investigations, cyber crime and so on but community-based policing has been the strong foundation and will remain so.

“This will not fundamentally change the policing that the vast majority of the public see day-to-day but it will change how we are organised but I think that is something the public rightly expects us to get on with while still delivering the service.

"Finally, this will also be a time of uncertainty for all our people, who actually deliver policing up and down the country. We want to ensure that they all have an opportunity to engage and contribute to the transition to help shape the service of the future.”