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: |
Editor
9
February 2005
Consultation
paper: Supporting Police, Protecting Communities |
CONSULTATION
PAPER; SUPPORTING POLICE, PROTECTING COMMUNITIES: PROPOSALS FOR LEGISLATION
Douglas
Keil, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation said,
“This
consultation exercise draws together some things which have been considered
before and some new initiatives.
Changes
to the governance structure of the SDEA and Common Police Services
such as the Scottish Police College and the Scottish Criminal Records
Office are required and while some of the fine details will have to
be carefully considered I think we can look forward to improvements
in these areas.
We
strongly support a crack down on knife crime, strengthened police
powers and tighter regulation on the selling of knives. Stiffer penalties
would also be welcome and if they are enacted we hope the courts would
use them. We also strongly support action against sectarianism and
Sir John Orr's review of marches and parades.
We
have not yet considered football banning orders; mandatory drug testing
or incentives for providing evidence against major criminals, but
these are interesting proposals which could certainly assist in the
general fight against crime, drug misuse and disorder.
We
have no difficulty with the planned independent police complaints
body and we look forward to the debate about that.
Overall
we have a positive view of this consultation and will now be looking
at the fine details of the different elements within it. There would
be some significant resources required to deal with some of these
proposals and we will be talking to the Scottish Executive about that.
There is no doubt that provided we have the resources, these proposals
would make a positive difference.”
