At yesterday's COSLA/The Scotsman Policing Summit, a number of people asked for COSLA's views on single Police services or reform elsewhere. The following provides a brief summary of the information and views currently held.
Prof Nick Fyfe referred to the Danish example.
The recent Danish centralisation experience shows us that:
• the clearing rate dropped (from 19% to 14.5%) over the reorganisation period;
• Citizen satisfaction levels with local policing dropped from 76% to 60%;
• The high levels of confidence in the police dropped from 81% to 64%; and
• in 2010 while twice as many citizens were dissatisfied with reform (28%) than were satisfied.
Amongst police local partners there was general disappointment with the reform, with no increase in professionalisation, less time for preventative action, less local police presence, less police knowledge about local affairs, and a more hierarchical and centralised police organisation.
In February this year the National Police Commissioner is quoted as saying "The reform was over-sold and under-financed".
A few people referred to Northern Ireland.
Citing the Northern Irish model ignores key important facts:
• Northern Ireland has a distinct history which is simply not comparable with Scotland. Policing was developed centrally in Northern Ireland due to local tensions. Policing in Scotland has a history rooted in Local Government;
• The Northern Irish Police Force is attempting, where possible, to decentralise to improve community relations and build in local accountability (which is a difficult task, and progress is limited, whereas in Scotland we do not have this problem);
• The responsibilities of local government in Northern Ireland are comparably very limited when compared to Scotland. They don't have the range of powers and duties of our Scottish unitary authorities.
Some have suggested that we look to England. The following are some notable recent examples that we are unlikely to see promoted.
"Fire control fiasco – an extraordinary failure" (press headline)
• Firecontrol was devised in 2004 with the aim of creating a centralised fire and rescue control system: the project was scrapped without conclusion. The National Audit Office concluded that £469m of taxpayers' money was wasted on the project.
• Sir Bob Kerslake from the Department of Communities and Local Government stated at the Public Accounts Committee that they realised that re-organising the fire service would be expensive but "officials were of the view that the benefits of the scheme outweighted the cost".
• Further it was claimed a major failing of this project was the project was drawn up with very little consultation with the local fire and rescue services.
• Tens of millions were spent on consultants for this project?
Police Mergers Scrapped
• In 2006 England scrapped plans to merge forces into strategic forces due to the high transitional costs. The estimated cost of this was £1bn. It was realised this money would be better spent elsewhere than on changing boundaries. A significant risk for spiralling upfront costs, and one reason for scrapping the project, was IT amalgamation. Has the Scottish Government carried out any detailed analysis of IT amalgamation? No. They predict £1m based on little evidence. Let's be serious - that is a fraction of what would be required (eg in 2010, one IT project to create a Common Performance Management Platform cost £9.6m - £1.3m over budget and a year late)
• The then Home Secretary was criticised and forced to scrap force mergers until the implications for cost, governance, accountability and local policing were properly thought through.
SPSA (Scottish Police Services Authority)
Several speakers referred yesterday to the problems that the SPSA has faced.
SPSA was set up to provide support services to the police, and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
These were the findings of the Audit Scotland Report on the SPSA (the Early Years). Governance, IT and financial issues still remain. Lessons must be learnt from this experience:
• SPSA's early development was hampered by a lack of clarity on how it was to deliver its long-term benefits and by limited support from some key stakeholders.
• A lack of robust information created difficulties in setting the initial budget and when transferring services frompolice forces.
• SPSA's governance arrangements are complex and the board has found its role challenging.
• SPSA's early performance was affected by leadership changes and poor customer engagement.
This information is also available as a document to download here or listen to our event again.