Concerns over Police Scotland’s complaints procedures to be raised in Holyrood

The Scottish Conservatives will raise the governance of Police Scotland at Holyrood after The Sunday Post revealed officers’ concerns around an elite firearms unit.

The party’s justice spokesman Liam Kerr will question SNP justice secretary Humza Yousaf about Police Scotland’s complaints procedures on Wednesday.

The questions come after our reports revealed a former member of the firearms unit covering the east of Scotland sent a report to senior officers in the national force suggesting the squad was demoralised, exhausted and riven by sexism, bullying and a gung-ho attitude to firearm protocols.

Whistleblower alleges toxic culture of bullying and sexism within force has left Scotland’s armed police officers exhausted and demoralised

Our story came days after former lord advocate, Dame Elish Angiolini, in a report commissioned by ministers, urged the Scottish Government to overhaul how complaints against Police Scotland are investigated and warned the national force must address issues around sexism and racism.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “From reading Dame Elish’s report and speaking to police officers across Scotland, it is evident the government’s police complaints and governance system is broken.

“The result has been that far too many officers, police staff and members of the public have been badly let down since the creation of Police Scotland and the apparatus that is supposed to hold it to account.

“In many cases, people have suffered injustice resulting in significant impact on their health and wellbeing, destroyed careers and financial loss.

“The relationship between the public and the police is built on trust and that simply cannot be jeopardised because the nationalist government in Edinburgh ignores the day job because of its relentless obsession with breaking up the UK.

“At its most basic, this is about fairness, transparency and natural justice. That is why we are determined that the government won’t get away with sticking Dame Elish’s report into a drawer and forgetting about it.”