Friday 20 March 2009

Call to disband all police forces in Scotland

That was the headline in the Herald today. Of course, that's not what they actually meant:
The head of Scotland's policing watchdog has called for a radical restructuring of the country's eight forces to create one single police service.
Who exactly is this "watchdog"? It turns out that he's nothing less than:
The former chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police
Isn't this typical of the state sector? Respond to legitimate concerns by appointing an insider as "watchdog". Far from amalgamating our police forces we should consider making them truly accountable to the public. That means electing Chief Constables. Note the plural.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

David Farrer
I agree Sandy. I seem to remember that there used to be separate forces for Ayr, Kilmarnock and Ayrshire.

29 March 2009, 20:46:34 GMT+01:00
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Sandy Jamieson
Surely the problem is that there are not enough Police Forces in Scotland. 
Starhclyde is too big and it is not hard to imagine that by virtue of geography and population (the number of voters and the Headquarters of some National Newspapers) the CC's focus will be on Crime in Glasgow whereas areas such as Argyll, South Lanarkshire will find their establishment strength gradually being reduced to meet the requirements of Glasgow. 
Imagine now where there to be "The Police Service of Scotland/Royal Scottish Constabulary" The centripetal force of Glasgow would just bring the other half of Scotland into the area it can milk to deal with Glasgow. 
It would be far better to go back to the the pre-74 system where Police forces cover far smaller geographical areas so using the current Local Government Boundaries, "new" Police Forces such as Ayrshire (East, North and South, Renfrewshire (East Renfrewshire, Paisley, Greenock and Inverclyde, Lanarkshire (North and South, Stirling & Clackmannan (Clackmannan, Falkirk & Stirling) etc.

22 March 2009, 23:37:05 GMT
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Sam Duncan
"The head of Scotland's policing watchdog has called for a radical restructuring of the country's eight forces to create one single police service." 
 
...again. 
 
Didn't St. Donald try this one on back when the Numptorium was first set up?

20 March 2009, 18:59:01 GMT