The prospect of Scotland’s police forces merging into a single entity has come under attack at a council meeting in Perth.
“Just because it worked for Stalin and other despots around the world doesn’t mean we need it,” said Councillor Lewis Simpson.
At a community safety committee meeting on Wednesday, Mr Simpson described the Scottish Government’s efforts to elicit the councillors’ views as “a disgraceful bit of consultation” and said that with the elections looming “the timing could not have been worse.” He also claimed the consultation document was “riddled with errors” and did not recognise the role of local authorities overseeing police forces.
The Tayside Joint Police Board member also referred to a top police officer’s criticism of the consultation which the officer claimed was skewed in favour of dropping from eight forces to one.
Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland vice-president Kevin Smith wrote to justice minister Kenny MacAskill saying the consultation could have benefited from “a more neutral perspective.”
At Wednesday’s meeting Councillor Heather Stewart said she was surprised to find herself agreeing with Mr Simpson as she also felt it was a poor consultation and badly timed. She did not welcome the idea of a single Scottish-wide police force, adding, “One size doesn’t fit all. We can’t have someone sitting in Glasgow deciding what is happening in Aberfeldy.”
A number of other members of the committee expressed concern that, due to the timing of consultation, they could be dealing with a different government on the issue depending on how the election went. Councillors Willie Robertson and Archie MacLellan also said the consultation process was flawed as it did not provide sufficient financial information to make an informed decision.
As part of the consultation local authorities and their partners throughout Scotland have been invited to have their say on the proposals on the future of policing and fire rescue services in Scotland. The current policing and fire and rescue services in Scotland were formed in 1975 as the result of that year’s local government reorganisation.
Last month, however, the government published consultations where they stated that there is a compelling argument for one police force and one fire and rescue service to cover the whole of Scotland.
The councillors agreed to take part in a workshop towards the end of the month, when they will all have a chance to have a say in their response. A draft response will be prepared and presented to the next meeting of the community safety committee on May 11 for final approval.