Police Scotland has successfully merged the legacy intelligence units from the former eight Scottish police forces into a single National Intelligence Bureau.
And following an internal review, a new structure will be rolled out during 2015 to provide a consistent level of intelligence provision across the country, a report published today (Friday, March 27) states.
Local Policing+ Inspection of the "Management of Intelligence in Ayrshire Division and the National Intelligence Bureau" forms part of the review of local policing in Ayrshire Division which was published last month by HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland.
It looked at the Divisional Intelligence Unit in Ayrshire Division, its relationship with the Specialist Crime Division of Police Scotland and the role of the National Intelligence Bureau. (Police Scotland considers the Divisional Intelligence Unit in Ayrshire to be typical of the proposed new structure.)
HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, Derek Penman, said: "Police use of intelligence is a highly technical area of work. It involves linking information from a variety of sources in order to construct a picture of threat, risk and harm.
"All police information and intelligence should be seen as an integral part of policing, essential in informing and supporting both local and national policing priorities.
"Criminals do not respect borders and the creation of a single police service in Scotland has led to improved levels of information sharing and close working with other crime enforcement agencies across the UK and abroad.
"There is evidence of good work at divisional and national level in relation to oversight of serious organised crime and intelligence. Police Scotland is responding to the challenges and opportunities that advances in technology present through the Internet Investigation Unit and data monitoring services.
"There are a number of significant changes to the management of intelligence on the horizon which will require new guidance and training for officers. We have highlighted improvements around governance and recommend that existing structures are reviewed to address inconsistencies and inefficiencies and ensure opportunities are not missed to counter criminal activity."
The report found that partnership working at the Scottish Crime Campus is strong, the new Joint Intelligence Development Unit has helped in the targeting of those involved in serious organised crime and a single unit overseeing the Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) has improved decision making and risk assessments.
But variations remain across the country in terms of intelligence functions and the documentation used and HMICS found it difficult to identify a single authoritative source of all available information and intelligence, including serious organised crime activity.
Therefore, it has recommended that the future intelligence structure, and the service it provides to Police Scotland, would be improved by exploiting all sources of intelligence, supporting operations and the provision of accurate and timely information to key decision makers.
Mr Penman added: "This would provide a single authoritative and strategic overview of all intelligence for policing priorities, identification of trends across geographical boundaries and the development of a strategic intelligence collection plan for each policing priority to identify gaps in knowledge."
The report states that Ayrshire Division is both intelligence led and performance driven and identifies the threat, risk and harm on a daily basis. However, intelligence activity to support local policing is influenced by performance data, potentially leading to greater focus on the short term picture as opposed to medium and longer term analysis.
Three recommendations are contained within the report and 15 improvement actions have been identified. Police Scotland will be asked to develop an action plan to take these forward and HMICS will monitor progress.
