GRAEME PEARSON

Scotland's police forces are digesting the implications of a report from Her Majesty's Inspector for Constabulary which some senior officers will no doubt perceive as yet another attempt to introduce a national police service to replace the current eight-force structure which has existed since 1975.

Others may believe that the report, Building Support, which has been well trailed among senior officers, represents blue-sky thinking and has been written with the anticipation that any debate will identify properly those services best retained by forces (and, therefore, remain the responsibility of chief constables) and those services that may be transferred to a national authority.

The report acknowledges that its author has adopted his own criteria for selecting which services fit within what framework. But it is also honest enough to identify and comment on the dangers attached to the possibility of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The national authority identified to receive additional responsibilities is the newly-created Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA). Barely a year old, the authority was created by the Scottish Parliament to "provide police support services and the common police services of training, criminal records, information technology and forensic services". Many of the areas identified in the current HMI report for transfer to the SPSA - serious fraud investigations, terrorism, even roads policing - would be difficult to reconcile with the parliament's stated intention.

There will be those involved in police management across Scotland who will no doubt feel threatened by the perceived loss of control inherent in the proposals. When taken as a whole, the areas of policing worthy of consideration for transfer to the national authority represent a substantial shift in power and control from local chief constables, and their respective police boards, to a centrally-managed authority.

I have no doubt that politics will also play a part in further confusing the debate, given that we have a minority government led by an SNP First Minister with hopes and ambitions for the future of Scotland while many of our local authorities remain in the control of Labour administrations jealously keen to maintain influence and oversight over a highly visible and local police force.

Despite the many criticisms over the years, the police service is still identified in survey after survey by the general public as one they can trust and value. Key, then, to any HMI proposed shift of services in strategic terms will be the question of accountability: who is responsible for the delivery of each service, whether delivered locally or nationally, and how is that delivery regulated and monitored? The current tripartite arrangement involving the local authority, Scottish central government and chief constables, has been widely lauded and criticised in equal measure as the means by which police forces account for their performance and budget.

At national level, the executive board of the SPSA, comprising non-executive members chosen by government, two conveners from local police authorities and two chief constables, has yet to publish its first annual report. It is impossible at this time, therefore, to establish the SPSA's effectiveness in the discharge of its current responsibilities.

In the absence of a history of a successful delivery in policing support services, it renders a judgment on transferring additional services extremely difficult to make. It will be unsurprising, therefore, that various chief constables will take the view that hiving off parts of the current policing services to a new, and as-yet untested, authority is a step too far. The real question to be addressed in all these debates remains surprisingly simple, but extremely complex in its answer: what arrangement of police services will provide the best delivery for the citizens of Scotland and allow for the nation's future economic development?

The HMI report teases out in a blunt and all-encompassing fashion the possibilities and some of the options, but the debate about the future structure and governance of the police is unlikely to reach any degree of consensus on this burning issue. The question nevertheless requires an answer from our professionals - and, for those living in fear of crime or as victims of crime, the answer must be to their satisfaction.

A nation that seeks to take on international events such as the Commonwealth Games and play a role in world events must have effective national responses to the threats and changing challenges from terrorism and organised crime. In response to that, the HMI report provides more questions than answers, but if it kickstarts the process towards a resolution of our policing, it will have served its purpose.

  • Graeme Pearson is the founding director of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency. He stood down from the post last November.