RARELY has any senior officer so publicly criticised the force he used to work for.

But after 33 years in the police, former assistant chief constable John Mauger has delivered an explosive analysis of what he says are the failings of Police Scotland.

On the ropes himself after spending nearly five years on gardening leave, Mr Mauger now faces trial accused of shoplifting in his local Tesco.

Here, in his own words, are his verdicts on issues such as the routine arming of Scottish police officers and the police decision to allow the next Old Firm game to go ahead on Hogmanay.

And here too is his explanation of why he thinks he will beat the shoplifting charge against him.

John Mauger was Policeman in Scotland and left ignominiously (Albanpix.com/ Alban Donohoe)

Shoplifting

JOHN Mauger hit the headlines in March when he was arrested and charged with allegedly stealing three beef fillets from an Essex supermarket.

The Scottish Police Authority was given details of the allegation on April 6 and, as per protocol in these cases, Mauger was suspended by the force.

The 54-year-old has denied the charges against him and vowed to prove his innocence.

His trial is expected to take place before the end of the year.

He said: “I can’t believe that anyone else in these circumstances would have been charged.

“It is a complete and utter nonsense.

“I am going to clear my name. Any suggestion that I formed an intent to steal is pure nonsense.

“I think I became so preoccupied with everything going on that I forgot to pay. I hadn’t left the premises – that is the reality.

“At that point I was at an all-time low.

“My mental state was so fragile after seven years of handling this.”

Mr Mauger claimed statements he left the store or even went through the alarm barrier were lies and believes CCTV footage will help lead to his acquittal.

Targets and Crime Levels

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The divisions had targets. Officers are under immense pressure to write off crimes. This idea we have the lowest recorded crime is absolute drivel in the real world of policing and what the public see – look at the calls and number of contacts at police stations or on the street.

There is a real culture, across all of policing now, to reduce the amount of crimes being recorded – there all sorts of ruses now to try and manage these figures.

I chaired the national crime reporting standards group when I first came to Scotland and I was up against it then. I wanted to change some of the processes in place, but I was blocked by the chief constables because it would have reduced the deduction rate.

I sat next to a superintendent at a conference who told me they were not recording crimes as they should be. I asked him where the moral code was and he went white – I said I understand, because you have seen what has happened to me.

That is the nature of the force – you either comply or you are out.

Counter Corruption Unit

POLICE Scotland’s counter-corruption unit has dogged the headlines since it emerged that officers broke spying guidelines while investigating a journalist’s sources over stories involving a murder case.

The internal disciplinary squad has come under intense scrutiny
over its tactics for monitoring officers and Mr Mauger claims he came to their attention during his battle with the force over his corruption allegations.

He said: “No ifs, no buts, I have no doubts they intercepted my phone calls because all the tell-tale signs were there.

“They have been in possession of my personal laptop for more than two years now and are refusing to give it back and they gained access to my medical reports unlawfully.”

Single Force

I supported it, you could still achieve localism under it, but when they appointed House he had a one model mentality.

It was this Strathclydisation concept and, boy, did he wield the power. I think his approach set Police Scotland back many, many years.

The other issue still outstanding is adequate accountability of the force in local areas.

Budgets

What you saw in the early days of Police Scotland was no grip of the financial management.

Stephen House was so focused on the operational aspects that he possibly didn’t leave himself the time to give the same attention to other important areas like balancing the books.

It needed to change, but the wrong person was put in at the start.

House was too fast, too furious and far too much for everyone.

When I was at Central Scotland the finance director said to me I was the first senior officer to express an interest.

I don’t think the culture is there, a culture of understanding that looking after budgets is as important as the frontline policing.

Old Firm

Rangers v Celtic - Betfred Cup - Semi-Final - Hampden Park (PA) — Rangers v Celtic – Betfred Cup – Semi-Final – Hampden Park (PA)

I’d love to see the risk assessment for this as they must have assessed there will be disorder, simply because history shows there will be disorder.

We know that when these two play, incidents of crime and disorder go up across the whole country and this is coming on one of your busiest days of the year.

It is not just where the game is played, it is across the whole country. The crucial question is: are they increasing the number of officers they have on that day compared to what they ordinarily would to take account of the game?

If they haven’t, then you have to ask serious questions of this decision.

Armed Officers

The firearms issue was a debacle. I have been gold and silver firearms commander for many years and I don’t disagree with the intention of trying to ready yourself for future threats.

But you don’t decide you are going to de facto arm your police service without consultation with the community you service who, it has been shown, are wary of such a policy.

It was handled badly and House citing the Dunblane tragedy when defending it was poor.

But it was another issue which showed how little policy discussion there was at the top.

Whistleblowing

It is impossible to take on this system.

More than two years ago I made complaints about these people. Nobody from the Crown Office has been in touch to take a statement.

Even when they apologised and concluded all matters were dismissed in 2014, I knew I was finished, because at that point I had taken on the system, there were so many things running by then.

Nothing in all of this was for my benefit. I was just trying to point out people were not doing the job they were being paid to do.

I had no career ambitions beyond my grade. I was already quite senior. This was not about being passed over for promotion.

It’s cost me my career, my reputation, my health and affected my relationship with my family.

I have had huge stress and anxiety issues.

I signed up for much the same reasons as everyone else; to do the right thing, protect society and bring offenders to justice.

But it’s hard not to get disillusioned with the police when you have been through what I have been through.

I would say to other whistleblowers, do it because it is the right thing to do.

But if you have to fund anything yourself, you are finished, I was only able to fight this as I qualified for the insurance policy.

Brian Rix

I WAS in conversation with Mr and Mrs Rix.

I said I had seen a house, and it was a golden opportunity.

At that point I thought I was going to retire in the autumn of 2013 and it was coming on the market around July.

They offered to help [with a £250,000 loan] and I said I’d pay the money back when I retired.

Just because someone is rich, it doesn’t constitute corruption. Yes, it is a lot of money to most people, but in the context of the housing market [in Essex], less so.

I had the money, but the Rixs were in the midst of separating.

I wanted to give the money back, they were both looking for it, but I didn’t know who owned the money so their legal teams asked me to hold on to it until they sorted it out.

In the October, I was on a call with Mrs Rix and she told me Brian had previous convictions.

I said the fact they were previous convictions was irrelevant [they are all spent] but I had to tell Police Scotland.

I literally got off the phone and sent an email to my boss, asking for direction on the issue.

They never responded but then later complained I didn’t put Rix’s name in, claiming I was somehow trying to disguise it.

By this point, the other issues were ramping up so I believe it was a witch hunt. The whole thing was manufactured so they had something they could use.

The most crucial thing, which came to light later, was the money came from Mrs Rix’s account, not Mr Rix.

In January, the Court of Session ruled Police Scotland were right to reject Mr Mauger’s security clearance request.

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