Local policing in Scotland will come under increasing scrutiny over the next three years as a result of a new programme of work announced today by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS).
The organisation, which independently scrutinises policing and the work of Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority, today published its new Corporate Strategy 2014-2017 and Scrutiny Plan for the next 12 months.
The Corporate Strategy sets out a refreshed approach for the organisation over the next three years, including Local Policing + , an ambitious new programme inspecting each of Scotland’s 14 police Divisions and reporting publicly on the effectiveness of Police Scotland in delivering against local priorities and keeping people safe.
The organisation will also introduce Continuous Improvement Reviews, assessing the extent to which Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority are delivering best value and continuous improvement.
The Scrutiny Plan sets out the work programme for HMICS in more detail for the next 12 months.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Scotland Derek Penman said:
"The creation of a single police service in Scotland has led us to fundamentally review the work of HMICS. Our new programme ensures we are independently scrutinising policing across Scotland, with a particular emphasis on local policing and local priorities.
"We aim to add value and strengthen public confidence in policing by ensuring that Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority deliver services that are high quality, continually improving, effective and responsive to local needs.
"It is important we share our independent assessments of policing with communities, and everything we do will be published on our website and reported to the Scottish Parliament.
"Our new Corporate Strategy sets out HMICS’ values. We will be conducting our scrutiny activity according to those values, acting independently, proportionately and in a way which is focused on the needs of service users. Our work will be conducted in an open and transparent way, and we will be fully accountable for what we do."
