Inspectors launch public consultation on Police call handling

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) today launched an online anonymous questionnaire to allow members of the public, officers and politicians to reflect on their experiences of calling 999 or 101, Police Scotland’s command and control facilities, as reported by Holyrood last week.

HMICS was appointed to investigate call-handling after Lamara Bell and her boyfriend John Yuill died after Police failed to respond to a call reporting their car crash on the M9.

HM Inspector of Constabulary, Mr Derek Penman, said: “I can give an assurance that all responses will be treated in confidence, only for the purposes of this review and will not be shared with any other organisation.”

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Opposition MSPs have criticised Police Scotland following the revelation an unnamed Constable called Bell ten days after she died.

Scottish Labour say public confidence in the force is low. Leadership hopeful Kezia Dugdale has reiterated her call for Chief Constable Stephen House to resign.

In an open letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today, she said: “One of the most glaring scandals of the tragic case of Lamara Bell and John Yuill is that nobody in Police Scotland or the Scottish Government has, so far, taken responsibility for the way the young couple were let down. 

“The injustice of it all will not be lost on the public, who are rapidly losing confidence in Police Scotland and the Scottish Government's handling of policing.”

Scottish Conservative Justice Spokesperson Margaret Mitchell said the force was in “meltdown” and warned against transferring British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland’s remit.

“The single force has proved itself utterly incapable of dealing with even the most straightforward of calls,” she said.

General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, Calum Steele warned against Police Scotland becoming “a political football”.

“We call on HMICS to ensure their review honestly assesses the capacity of the police service to deliver all that is asked of it, at a time when police officers are working harder and longer than ever before, in a service that has greater demands placed on it than ever before and all set against a backdrop of a shrinking police budget and a general anti public-sector and austerity agenda.”

HMICS’s interim report will be given to the Cabinet Secretary by the end of next month, with the full report completed by the end of October.