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Key findings
- Police Scotland maintains a clearly defined purpose, vision and strategy that promotes a positive organisational culture, aims to prevent misconduct and supports compliance with its Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Behaviour.
- Feedback from officers and staff stated that there were occasions where Police Scotland senior leaders did not consistently exemplify the expected standards of professional behaviour.
- Training on Police Scotland’s Code of Ethics, Code of Conduct and Standards of Professional Behaviour for new officers and staff requires improvement to ensure quality and consistency.
- Professional Standards Department (PSD) National Gateway Assessment Unit (NGAU) maintains accurate records on initial assessment of wrongdoing and provides strong supervisory oversight.
- The NGAU database lacks formal policies governing record creation, retention and deletion.
- Police Scotland’s existing performance and appraisal process is widely regarded as ineffective and not fit for purpose.
- Performance regulations are overly complex and under-utilised, and should be reviewed.
- Staff in the NGAU responsible for assessing potential protected disclosures, have received little or inadequate whistleblowing training.
- Police Scotland’s record keeping on whistleblowing assessments requires improvement.
- There is a general lack of awareness of whistleblowing within Police Scotland.
- Current whistleblowing policies do not clearly outline processes for officers and staff to raise matters which may be protected disclosures concerning senior officers.
- There is no appropriate independent police oversight body prescribed under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing within policing in Scotland.
- Police staff disciplinary investigations lack consistency in record keeping, frequently exceed prescribed timescales, and are conducted without adequate training for managers and hearing chairs.
- The appointment of dedicated police staff investigators for police staff discipline cases is a positive development.
- The suspension of with-cause drug testing for police staff has introduced organisational risk.
- Oversight of police staff discipline exists at operational and tactical levels but is absent at an organisational level, with no evidence of public reporting or scrutiny.
- PSD conduct investigators undertake thorough and proportionate investigations but carry high caseloads, which can affect timescales.
- Delays in concluding conduct and disciplinary processes are due to complex, multifactorial causes. These delays negatively affect staff wellbeing.
- Police Scotland is actively addressing issues with its use of The Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013 Regulation 9 in relation to the dismissal of probationary constables and has increased management focus in this area.
- Wellbeing support for individuals who are subject to conduct and discipline processes is inconsistent and perceived as inadequate.
- Between 2013 and 2024, 20% of those Police Scotland officers and staff who died by suicide were subject to live complaints or discipline processes.
- We were not satisfied that the SPA’s arrangements for the initial assessment of senior officer wrongdoing provide adequate assurance.
- Improvements have been made to the capability of the SPA complaints team.
- We found that the SPA complaints team was being bypassed when reports were received by the SPA about senior officer potential wrongdoing.
- Police Scotland has failed to report all allegations of senior officer wrongdoing to the SPA.