Police Accountability in Scotland: [1] the ‘New’ Tripartite System
| Author | Kenneth B. Scott,Daniel Donnelly |
| Date | 01 March 2002 |
| Published date | 01 March 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0207500102 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DANIEL DONNELLY, BA, MBA
Research Associate in Police Studies
DR KENNETH B. SCOTT
Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences,
School
of
Social Studies, Bell College, Hamilton
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
IN SCOTLAND:
[1] THE 'NEW' TRIPARTITE
SYSTEM*
Police accountability in Scotland is examined in two aspects. First, the
changing constitutional arrangements in Scotland are explored in terms
of the tripartite system; local government reform, devolution, the
Scottish Parliament and the new Justice Ministry. Comparisons arealso
made between the policing systems in Scotland and England and
Wales, with respect to the police reforms of the I990s. It is argued that
recent constitutional change and central government policies have
significantly increased centralisation of the policing function in Scot-
land by non-statutory means. The impact of these changes on police
authorities, joint police boards and policing is evaluated.
Introduction
The issue of accountability has been a predominant theme in the
literature and politics of British policing over the past 40 years (Reiner,
1997). This has been true to such an extent that it is plausible to argue
that 'developments might suggest that the degree of accountability
required of the police service is now of such an order that the debate
could be effectively brought to a close' (Loveday, 2000 : 214). Yet for
a police service which has at its core the principle of 'policing by
consent', changing circumstances continually dictate a re-evaluation of
the key components of this principle - by whose consent does policing
operate, how is that consent obtained, and through what mech-
anisms is the granting of that consent monitored? This article, which is
in two parts, analyses two emerging aspects of these recurring ques-
tions. The first part focuses on policing in one part of Britain, namely
Scotland, and places Scottish developments in the context of the more
widely known debates about accountability in England and Wales. The
second part of the article reviews new forms of accountability, espe-
cially the Scottish experience of those associated with performance
management and measurement, which as means of assessing and imp-
roving police effectiveness are arguably now the main methods by
which police accountability is secured.
The Police Journal. Volume 75 (2002) 3
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