Police complaints, investigations and misconduct - legislation proposals: consultation analysis
In 2013, radical new policing structures were implemented in Scotland. In 2018, Dame Elish Angiolini was tasked with assessing their effectiveness through the “Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing”. This review was completed in 2020 and included recommendations likely to require legislative change. These fall under the following categories:
Rights and ethics – these are recommendations which seek to strengthen existing legislation around the rights of the public and police officers, police officer responsibilities during investigations, as well as Police Scotland’s Code of Ethics.
Governance, jurisdiction and powers – recommendations which propose changes to the governance, jurisdiction and additional powers of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).
Conduct and standards – recommendations on conduct and standards within Police Scotland as well as disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Liability for unlawful conduct – the recommendation to clarify the liability of the Chief Constable for unlawful conduct.
Alma Economics was commissioned by the Scottish Government to analyse the public’s views on these recommendations, as expressed during an extensive public consultation. Our team of researchers conducted extensive descriptive and thematic analysis of closed-format and open-format consultation questions. This allowed us to gain significant insight into the opinions held by the public and the reasoning behind them.
In general, we found that the public, both individuals and organisations, broadly supported the recommendations. They were in favour of greater transparency and impartiality in policing while there was more nuance regarding the practical steps required.
We compiled our findings into a summary and final report. Graphs and tables capture quantitative results, while direct quotes were used to exemplify the qualitative insights. The views and opinions expressed by the public, as reflected in our reports, will inform the Scottish Government’s policy decisions on the implementation of these recommendations and influence the future of policing in Scotland.
Our report can be found here.