Police Scotland to appoint new Chief Constable

As reported in late editions of yesterday’s Evening Times, Sir Stephen House will stand down from his post in three months time – bringing forward his departure by almost a year.

As well as the controversy over the M9 crash, there is also an investigation by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) into the death in custody of Kirkcaldy man Sheku Bayoh earlier this year.

Sir Stephen, the former chief constable of Strathclyde Police, oversaw the amalgamation of Scotland’s eight regional police forces into the single national force, which came into being in April 2013. Many aspects of policing in Scotland are stronger now than they were a decade ago. “This could have been avoided if Ministers had taken responsibility”.

“George McIrvine, branch secretary of UNISON Police Staff Scotland, “I wish Chief Constable Sir Stephen House all the best in whatever he chooses to do in the future”.

The chief constable of Police Scotland is to step down earlier than planned following a barrage of negative publicity, according to reports.

He said: “A new chief carrying on as if nothing is wrong will cement the problems rather than solve them”.

“But after almost 35 years as a police officer and the last 9 as a Chief Constable in Scotland, I believe the time is right for me to take up a new challenge and thereby allow the process to recruit my successor to begin”.

With the Scottish Government itself centrally implicated in the nature and careering of the House regime, the government itself it now under scrutiny on who is next appointed to this job, with what responsibility and with what accountability.

His leadership has been a source of controversy from the outset and Police Scotland needs a fresh start.

Referring to the cases at today’s meeting, Sir Stephen said: “I also want to give my honest commitment that where mistakes have been made, we will learn from those mistakes, and any recommendations which will improve the performance of Police Scotland in relation to incidents like this will be taken on board without question”.

He said that Sir Stephen had become a “convenient scapegoat” despite a lifetime commitment to policing, but his resignation would not solve institutional shortcomings in the national police force, including a “lack of transparency and accountability”.

Mr Pearson added: “Police Scotland has been an organisation without proper oversight for too long, and has had to endure cuts from the SNP Government which have left the force under resourced and over worked. The controversy of this summer has dragged their reputation unfairly through the mud”.

However, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon thanked Sir Stephen for his “years of dedicated service”. She added: “Strong policing has ensured recorded crime is at a 40 year low”.

“He has delivered some very impressive policing results on crimes of violence, particularly domestic violence”.

Months before the single force was born, Sir Stephen got into an open spat with Vic Emery, the head of watchdog Scotland Police Authority.

Despite the challenges he faced and the criticisms he had to weather, in June 2013, Sir Stephen was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to law and order.

Chairman Brian Docherty said: “He has delivered the most significant public sector restructuring in a generation against a background of a brutal austerity agenda”.

“Many people feared that a single police service could be susceptible to political interference and those who have called for the head of the chief constable as some form of trophy need to consider that”.

“The policing of major events when Scotland was in the global spotlight such as last year’s Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup was also exemplary”. They set up the toothless Scottish Police Authority.