In search of sustainable policing? Creating a national police force in Scotland.

Fyfe, Nicholas R.; Scott, Kenneth B.

Abstract

Reform and policing have become familiar companions in the UK over the past couple of decades, even if the nature, scope and pace of this reform have evolved differently in the three main jurisdictions. Ever since the Sheehy Inquiry (Home Office, 1993) into Police Responsibilities and Rewards established by a Conservative Government and that covered England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the attempts at changing the landscape of 'British' policing that emanated from that Inquiry have been quite distinctive in the different areas of the UK. Much of the police legislation of the 1990s and 2000s that promoted change was applied only to England and Wales and focused vigorously on the prevailing liberal doctrines of 'value for money', performance and accountability, and efficiency and effectiveness within a public service. The police in Scotland were sometimes included in this legislation passed by the UK Parliament at Westminster, but in a minimal way. Nonetheless, the Scottish police service kept a watchful eye on developments in its southern neighbours and not infrequently imported models of business practice developed there, such as the use of the National Intelligence Model, the concept of 'Best Value' and the use of performance indicators. Even with the coming of the new Scottish Parliament and government, created by the 1998 Scotland Act, such moves were rarely embodied directly in legislation, but emerged from the close interactions between chief constables, politicians and civil servants encouraged by devolution (Scott, in press). Meanwhile, the complex and troubled issues around policing in Northern Ireland had been addressed by the Patten Report (1999), leading to the creation of a new police service and with it a wholesale series of reforms of everything from insignia to governance, from operational structures to human rights compliance. The close cultural and operational links with the new Police Service of Northern Ireland were to make it an obvious comparator when police reform came onto the agenda in Scotland.

Citation

FYFE, N.R. and SCOTT, K.B. 2013. In search of sustainable policing? Creating a national police force in Scotland. In Fyfe, N.R., Terpstra, J. and Tops, P. (eds.) Centralizing forces? Comparative perspectives on contemporary police reform in northern and western Europe. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing [online], chapter 7, pages 119-135. Available from: https://www.boomdenhaag.nl/en/webshop/centralizing-forces

• Online Publication Date: Jul 2, 2013
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2013
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2023
• Publisher: Eleven International Publishing
• Pages: 119-135
• Book Title: Centralizing forces? Comparative perspectives on contemporary police reform in northern and western Europe.
• Chapter Number: Chapter 7
• ISBN: 9789462360594
• Keywords: Police organizations; Europe; Reforms; Police reform; Governments; Citizens
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1965748
• Publisher URL: https://www.boomdenhaag.nl/en/webshop/centralizing-force
• Related Public URLs: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1254814 (The book in which this has been published); https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1965767 (Individual chapter by Jan Terpstra and Nicholas R. Fyfe)