Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
In the body’s annual report, the head of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) urged the Scottish Government to consider new legislation in this area.
Officers in Welsh and English services have recently faced charges in relation to crimes including inappropriate sharing of information, or unauthorized access to police systems.
Read More:
A bill to introduce similar provisions in Scotland, the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill, is currently in stage two at Holyrood.
Craig Naylor said: “One aspect of this area of ​​policing that is missing in Scotland is the concept of misconduct in public office.
“This charge has a high evidentiary test but is used, sparingly, in England and Wales, where it exists as an option when there is abuse of the office of a constable.
“This test, and the case law associated with it, provide options that could strengthen public safety against officers or staff who abuse their position for personal gain.
“Establishing a code of ethics based on a legislative perspective as proposed in the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill will put the service in a strong position.
“I support this legislation and hope that it will progress through the parliamentary process to allow for the changes needed to reassure the public.”
Mr Naylor would like to see a new misconduct in public office law introduced in Scotland, to help strengthen public trust in the professional standards of Police Scotland officers and staff, and in the policing system.
Concerns were also raised including that too much of frontline officers’ time was being taken up to respond to mental health incidents.
Mr Naylor said these should be managed primarily by health and social care services.
A further report by HMICS revealed that low staffing levels, disruption of rest days and the poor condition of many police buildings were among the issues that made officers feel vulnerable and sometimes unsafe.
The report called for Police Scotland to develop a co-ordinated wellbeing strategy which addressed what had a real impact on the physical and mental health of their officers and staff. The HMICS annual report for 2023/24 is the first to be published since Police Scotland’s new chief constable, Jo Farrell, took up her post in October last year.
In May last year, outgoing chief constable Iain Livingstone admitted that the force was guilty of “institutional racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination”, something his successor agreed with.
Mr Naylor said there was strong evidence that Ms Farrell’s early commitment to renewing the organisation’s vision and devising a new performance framework, was “being worked on at speed.”
He praised Police Scotland’s “exceptional workforce” of officers and staff, who he said were deeply committed to protecting the vulnerable, supporting victims of crime and helping to keep people safe across the country.
Mr Naylor said: “The need for further policing reform is widely recognised, but this must focus on defining the organization that the Scottish public will need in the future and can afford.
“This includes ensuring that wider systems are linked and that responsibility for providing services is fairly distributed to relevant expertise across the public sector, as failure to deliver reforms in other services defeats the benefits provided by Police Scotland.
“Police Scotland has been on a reform journey for 11 years and – although there are still opportunities to redesign the organization to meet future budgetary challenges – I am clear that such reform cannot be a further reduction in a capacity within policing.”
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “It is right that policing is always held to high standards and we welcome any measures that help us remove those who do not uphold our values ​​more quickly. the organization.
“We have already written to the Criminal Justice Committee asking for changes to regulations that would all allow us to speed up conduct procedures.”
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24606520.police-watchdog-calls-new-misconduct-office-law/?ref=rss
