SCOTTISH
POLICE FEDERATION
5 Woodside Place, Glasgow, G3 7QF
MEDIA
RELEASE
The Scottish Police Federation represents all police officers in the
ranks of chief inspector and below, about 15,000 people, over 98%
of all police officers in Scotland.
To:
Date:
Subject: |
Lucy
Adams
Thursday
2.9.04
Restorative
Justice in Police Complaints |
Consideration
is being given to introducing restorative justice measures into the
system of handling complaints against the police. An independent review
of the system is underway and Cathy Jamieson has appointed Jane Irvine,
lately lay inspector with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
in Scotland
to chair the review.
When
the review was announced, Doug Keil, General Secretary of the Scottish
Police Federation said, “ We welcome the Ministers' announcement
of a review. We believe the current regulations need to be re-written
and a new system adopted which is fair to the complainer and the police
officer or officers concerned.
Remember we are not talking about criminal complaints here, those
will continue to be handled independently by the Crown Office and
Procurator Fiscal Service and we support that absolutely. But for
internal matters, the current system tends to escalate relatively
minor things into fully blown discipline processes which can lead
to dismissal, demotion or severe financial penalties. We fully support
the Minister when she says she wants a move away from apportioning
blame towards a system which enables people to learn from mistakes
and move on.
We look forward to being involved in the debate about an independent
element in the handling of non-criminal complaints. We are not opposed
to that in principle but the real aim has to be an effective system
which has the confidence of the public and police officers”.
As
part of the review, Scottish Police Forces are examining restorative
justice which would see the police officer and the complainer meeting
and discussing the complaint in the presence of an independent mediator.
Both parties could discuss their concerns, explain behaviour and decisions
and explore any possible remedy.
David
Strang, Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and
President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
said, “For me the big advantage
is that there will be a higher likelihood of achieving victim or complainer
satisfaction. We are talking about minor cases of incivility or rudeness…
If we complain about staff in Marks and Spencers, for example, what
we really want is an improvement in their service and I think the
police should be looking at that much more.”
Doug Keil, said, “I think a system
which is purely punitive is more likely to get people backed into a
corner where they are unlikely to admit any guilt. If they are looking
at this from a different perspective there would be a greater willingness
to talk about what happened. Our system has got to move away from one
which is about blame and punishment to one which seeks to encourage
improvements."
