Anti-targets campaigner to become new SPF chair
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has elected a new chair following the announcement that Brian Docherty is to retire.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has elected a new chair following the announcement that Brian Docherty is to retire.
Inspector Andrea MacDonald became the chair-elect of the Scottish staff association for police officers up to chief inspector, cadets and special constables following a vote among its 25-strong central committee on Tuesday (November 1).
She defeated the chair of SPF North Area Committee, David Hamilton, in a two-horse race.
The current SPF vice-chair and longstanding campaigner against the targets culture in policing will take over from Mr Docherty when he leaves office on December 31.
Ms MacDonald has 26 years service having joined Strathclyde Police in 1990. She has worked in various roles within the Glasgow and Lanarkshire areas and within force headquarters.
In 2009, she was elected as the inspectors representative for Strathclyde Polices B Division. And in January 2010 she was elected vice chair of the Strathclyde Police Federation Joint Branch Board, then its chair from February 2012.
In 2010, Ms MacDonald spoke out against competency-related threshold payments being withheld unless officers handed out more penalties for littering and minor offences, saying such targets made them behave like car salesmen.
And in 2013 she told a SPF meeting that a focus on targets was alienating the public and policing had become a numbers game.
Ms MacDonald became chair of the SPF West Area Committee in April 2013 and then vice chair of the Joint Central Committee in August this year.
Speaking to Police Professional, Ms MacDonald said she was pleased to have been elected to lead the SPF and continue to fulfil the SPFs five-year manifesto commitments set out earlier this year.
Among 13 recommendations in the Programme for Policing 2016-2021, the SPF is calling on the Scottish government to: ensure police budgets rise at least in line with inflation during the lifetime of the next Holyrood administration; introduce a Scottish equivalent of the Hatch Act in the United States to ease restrictions on police officers taking part in democratic life; and to ease bureaucratic burdens on Scotlands police service by abolishing public sector targets and speeding up court proceedings.