Scottish police watchdog does u-turn over single crime agency plan

Scotland`s police watchdog has revealed he no longer believes the country`s eight police forces should be replaced by a national crime-fighting agency.

Paddy Tomkins has previously advocated a single national force, but told a conference of rank-and-file officers earlier this week that he had “changed his mind” on the issue.

He said replacing the eight chief constables with a national police commissioner would not be in the public`s best interests.

However the chief inspector of constabulary has suggested a shake-up of the current structure will be needed to improve community policing and provide better value for money.

Mr Tomkins was last week tasked by Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, to investigate the number of police officers being pulled away from local communities to work on murder inquiries, anti-terrorist operations and major incidents.

His report could lead to national police bodies being set up to carry out large operations such as major murder inquiries.

Taking part in a debate on the future of policing at the Scottish Police Federation conference at Peebles this week, Mr Tomkins, the former Lothian and Borders chief constable, said: “I have previously spoken in favour of a national police service. In light of experience, I have probably changed my mind on that.”

Mr Tomkins, who took over the chief inspector job in March last year, triggered a row among senior officers in December when he argued that several police activities, such as motorway policing, serious crime investigation and firearms response, should be stripped from individual forces and provided at “supraforce” level.

His comments fuelled a rift among senior officers who fear growing centralisation of police services following the establishment last year of the Scottish Police Services Authority, which has taken over several “backroom” tasks, such as forensics and IT, from individual forces.

Ricky Gray resigned as deputy chief constable of Strathclyde after complaining that the force could be weakened “to the point that it is not viable”.

Mr Tompkins pressed for a single national police force in 2004, arguing the radical step would deliver “big savings by merging certain non-front-line parts of their operations”.

But Mr Tomkins said a single police force “would not work”. However, he stressed something had to be done to stop local officers being diverted away from their communities to bolster murder squads and anti-terrorist teams.

“I don`t think having one chief constable and all the usual structures of a police force for the whole country would work.

“But if we`re going to safeguard the things that we think are important – local police, community police – then we are going to have do something to stop the abstraction and disruption to those activities. People get frustrated if they live in, say Glenrothes, and local community officers are taken off to investigate a homicide 20 miles away. It goes against people`s concerns about crime happening in their own area.”

He said the debate should not be between a single national force and eight regional forces.

Mr Tomkins suggested the “GP model” in the health service could be adopted by the police, with local officers fixed in their communities to tackle everyday crime, and specialist units at regional and national level set up for more serious inquiries.

“It`s not that I`m now saying the status quo is great. But a national police force is not necessarily the best way,” he said.