A force to be reckoned with

He wants Scotland to adopt the controversial "plastic plods" of England and Wales - the Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) which have, so far, been rejected by senior officers north of the border. His mantra is to remove duplication and replication. But whether that is palatable to the police service in Scotland is a different matter.

"People do not generally like change, but it is that challenge which gets me out of bed in the morning," he explains during an interview at his office in Glasgow's West Regent Street. "I want people to look forward to change rather than seeing it as a threat."

Such comments are unlikely to soften the blow his comments are bound to inflict. Mr Mulhern currently oversees a budget of £85m and the services for which he is responsible make him hugely influential. Not only is he thought to be popular with the Scottish Government; he holds the keys to the essential back office functions of Scotland's police service.

The establishment of the authority itself, the idea of which began when the late Donald Dewar asked officials to look at the practicalities of creating a single Scottish force, has not been universally popular.

Last year, chief constables wrote of their concern that the current tripartite arrangement between local authorities, forces and the Scottish Government could be eroded by the legislation which introduced it. But for now their attention is held by the debate heating up on the future and size of Scottish policing, an argument which will intensify today in the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament.

The SNP manifesto pledged to introduce 1000 new police officers, but The Herald has since revealed that the government instead plans to introduce 1000 "equivalent officers" through a combination of efficiency savings, technology and recruitment.

The response of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) to the debate discusses more civilian roles but states quite clearly that there are currently "insufficient" police officers in Scotland.

However, Mr Mulhern believes the row about whether Scotland needs an additional 1000 officers detracts from the more important point of how officers are used.

"It is better to look at where there is duplication and replication and whether we could move services to allow further investment in frontline policing," he said.

He believes the debate should look at some responsibilities police should shed, including responding to burglar alarms, maintaining security in the courts and dealing with lost property and dog fouling.

"As a police officer you always say you need more officers but what I say is that we have to ensure we are actually using the 16,000 we already have as efficiently as possible," he said. "Given that 1000 extra police officers comes as a fairly sizeable chunk of money, £40m or £50m, the question is how we demonstrate to the public that that is good value for money, when we have health and education and all those other services screaming for public money.

"Why are we the special case? For me it is about demonstrating that our 16,000 people are working as efficiently as possible and that the work they are doing requires the power of arrest. Until we do that, I don't think we can legitimately say we should get the additional 1000.

"If I can get a neighbourhood team, for example, involving a community police officer who co-ordinates the work of maybe three or four PCSOs and three or four community wardens, I may get that same capacity of seven or eight people for the price of four police officers."

Training is one area he is keen to reform. Currently, all probationers do 15 weeks at the police college and two to four weeks of additional training in their force.

"We really should start to co-ordinate that better," he said. "Firearms training is replicated eight times and it is an expensive thing to deliver because we need firing ranges and all the facilities which go with it. Public order and personal safety training is the same.

"We are entering that debate just now with Acpos to see how we could do things better or more efficiently. Efficiency will lead to savings and those savings could be invested in frontline policing."

The new SPSA also maintains and oversees the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA). The chief executive believes its role could be vastly expanded in future.

Currently the SCDEA has a very clear role in relation to organised crime, people trafficking and drugs. In future, depending on how well Mr Mulhern's proposals are received, it could take national responsibility for fraud, counter-terrorism, complex homicides and transport policing.

"Fraud investigations are not done in a co-ordinated way in Scotland," he said. "Fraud is invariably never local. For me that's an obvious one where the SCDEA should have the lead and work with the specialist procurators-fiscal and the Serious Fraud Office in London - and, as a consequence, link into international organisations like Interpol and the FBI.

"I also think there are real opportunities for them to have a dedicated team capable of going anywhere in Scotland, to support and mentor an investigation in its early stages in relation to those 20% of homicides where there is no natural suspect.

"We talk about the golden hour - that crucial time at the start of the investigation, that first couple of days and first week - when you are trying to get to grips with the lead suspect. Forensics plays a key part in that and we would see the links into the agency. Very early on you know if its going to be a difficult murder. I would like to see the agency putting a team in and not necessarily running the inquiry, but providing support services."

He also sees the agency taking a role in a new national service to prevent criminal behaviour on Scotland's transport links.

"We need to look at making the transport policing of the motorways, trains and airports much more unified and integrated," he said. "The force boundaries are fixed but there is no reason for criminals to respect them. The speeding motorist does not stop at the boundary and yet you see police patrol cars having to find the next exit when they reach them."

Ultimately he is not optimistic about the forthcoming budget announcements - and it seems likely he would know what they contain. But for him he says its not a problem, just another challenge.

Clearly it is one of the many challenges which motivates him, but how the eight chief constables and agency heads react will be harder to gauge. Whether they like it or not, change of some kind seems inevitable.

CV: David Mulhern

• Worked for Strathclyde Police for more than 24 years, based at headquarters before transferring to Easterhouse in 1995. In his early career he worked as both a uniformed officer and a detective constable. Mr Mulhern was involved in receiving the first 200 asylum seeker families in Scotland as sub-divisional officer in the city's west end.

• In 2002, he became assistant chief constable in the British Transport Police, holding responsibility for the BTP in Scotland, and with a number of UK-wide responsibilities, including community and race relations, diversity, communications and political relations.

• He was deputy chief constable of Central Scotland Police until 2005. Responsibilities involved dealing with complaints against the police, IT, human resources, finance and corporate development.

• Appointed chief executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority in January, having been interim chief executive since September 2005.

Police in Scotland: The current picture

Central Scotland Police
Chief constable Andrew Cameron

• Stretches for 1024 square miles over Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire councils, with a population of 281,000.

Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary
Chief constable Patrick Shearer

• Covers 2649 square miles and is subdivided into two commands.

Fife Constabulary
Chief constable Peter Wilson

• Covers a population of 350,000, split into three divisions. Headquarters in Glenrothes, with divisional headquarters in Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline and Cupar.

Grampian Police
Chief constable Colin McKerracher

• Serves more than 530,000 people over 3373 square miles. Stretches from the Cairngorm mountains to the Moray and Aberdeenshire coasts.

Lothian and Borders Police
Chief Constable David Strang

• Covers Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian and Scottish Borders. Second-largest force in Scotland.

Northern Constabulary
Chief constable Ian Latimer

• Covers 10,000 square miles of Highlands and Islands. Subdivided into eight commands. Serves 300,000 people with around 700 officers and 400 support staff.

Strathclyde Police
Chief constable Sir William Rae, soon to retire and be replaced by Stephen House

• Covers 2.3 million people over 5371 square miles. The biggest force in Scotland, with nine territorial divisions, 7500 officers and 3000 support workers.

Tayside Constabulary
Chief constable John Vine

• Covers 2896 square miles and 388,000 population. Has 1173 officers, 159 special constables and 683 support staff.

Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency
Director general Graeme Pearson, who is stepping down soon. The position is currently being advertised

• Tackles serious organised crime. Works with all Scottish police forces.

Scottish Police Services Authority
Head David Mulhern

• Supports the forces across Scotland. Has around 1300 expert staff and covers the Scottish Police College, where 75% of police and support staff are trained.

Serious and Organised Crime Agency

• Covers the UK. Undertakes pro-active operations against serious and organised crime. Works alongside SCDEA.

British Transport Police
Area commander for Scotland Ronnie Mellis

• Has UK-wide responsibility for freight and passenger trains. Across the UK has 2774 officers, 258 special constables, 210 police community support officers and 1204 police staff covering the Eurostar, Network Rail, London Underground, Docklands Light railway, Glasgow Subway and Midlands Metro.

HM Revenue and Customs

• Polices airports and ports. Seizes counterfeit goods, drugs etc. Works to ensure taxes are paid at the right time.

Police Community Service Officers

• PCSOs began in 2002. There are now 4000, with plans in place to recruit a further 21,000 by 2008. They get three weeks of training, compared with 19 for a police constable. They do not have the power of arrest but can detain suspects for 30 minutes while waiting for regular officers to arrive. Their £19,000 starting salary is two-thirds a police constable's.

Community Wardens

• Run by local authorities in Scotland. More than 500 citizens act as a link between citizens and service agencies in relation to crime, antisocial behaviour, vandalism and environmental damage.