The head of Scotland's largest police force has launched an unprecedented attack on radical proposals to centralise policing.
Stephen House, the new chief constable of Strathclyde Police, has strongly criticised the content and tone of the the Chief Inspector of Constabulary's annual report, published earlier this week. He also called for a new board to be established to make the new Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) more accountable and suggested Audit Scotland should be called in to ensure the controversial new authority is providing value for money.
Mr House's comments will fuel the growing debate about the future of Scottish policing.
Mr House, who took over the post less than a month ago, has already met Paddy Tomkins, the chief inspector, to raise his concerns. Speaking exclusively to The Herald, he warned that if Mr Tomkins's proposals to centralise areas such as counter-terrorism were carried out, it would weaken the force's ability to respond to incidents such as the attack at Glasgow Airport.
He said it would also mean Strathclyde's resources being spread even more thinly with the loss of some armed response vehicles and their helicopter.
"The report fails to confront the fact that major crimes and terrorism take place in the community and form part of the community and it is often the community which solves and resolves them," he said. "When the police act best, they act with the community.
"We have officers at junior level who are constantly alert to the threat of terrorism and who worked magnificently on the day of the attack at Glasgow Airport. In future you would not get that vital first response.
"The speculation in this report seems political and is glossing over these fundamental policing issues. The report itself mentions that policing in Scotland is better than it has ever been so it is not exactly clear what the problem is that Mr Tomkins wants to get fixed."
Mr Tomkins used to work together with Mr House when they served together at the Met and the two were flatmates for a time. His report earlier this week called for "a national solution" to policing.
The SPSA, which was set up in April to produce efficiency savings by centralising training and forensic services, has already proven highly controversial. IT from all eight forces will be handed over to SPSA in April 2008 and it also maintains the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA).
As a Non-Departmental Public Body, it is not accountable to a local board as the forces are, and is also not VAT exempt.
Mr Tomkins said more services should be centralised and passed to the authority, including recruitment. Mr House, who was previously an assistant commissioner with the Metropolitan Police, said no more responsibilities should be handed over until the authority is made more accountable.
Speaking after the meeting, Ricky Gray, deputy chief constable of Strathclyde, said the legislation governing the SPSA may need to be looked at again. He said: "The fabric of what we have built up in Strathclyde will be eroded to the point that it is not a viable force because all of the component parts will have been taken away to be run from elsewhere."
The news comes as two more members of Scotland's top crime fighting agency resigned following growing concerns about the way it is being managed.
Maria Kelly, the head of corporate services, and Kevin O'Hare, head of strategic communications, both left the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency last week. Their departures come just weeks after Graeme Pearson, the director of the agency, left amid a high-profile debate about whether the autonomy of the agency had been eroded.
Both Ms Kelly and Mr O'Hare, the former chief sub-editor of The Herald, are understood to have left for "personal reasons" but colleagues suggested their decision was based on moves by the SPSA to take further control of the agency.
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