Chief Constable presents first Annual Police Plan

Chief Constable Jo Farrell presented her first Annual Police Plan as Scotland's Chief Constable during a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority today, Thursday 21 March.

Chief Constable Farrell also provided a wide ranging update on how Police Scotland is delivering for the public.

The Chief outlined action to secure important court outcomes following murders and attempted murders in the west of Scotland; the latest sentence as part of a major public protection investigation into the sexual abuse of young and vulnerable people in Edinburgh; an initiative to tackle housebreaking and motor theft in Forth Valley; and drug seizures.

The Chief also highlighted a programme of equestrian training for young people in the east end of Glasgow which was designed and arranged by a Sergeant based in the city and reflected on the annual Bravery Excellence Awards​ held last month.

More information about the meeting, including the Annual Police Plan and the Chief Constable's report, is available here.​​

Chief Constable Farrell's speaking note is repeated below -

I want to start by reaffirming our apology to the family of Emma Caldwell following the conviction of Iain Packer at the end of February.

Emma Caldwell, her family, and many other victims, were let down by Strathclyde Police in 2005. I am sorry.

I am grateful that I was able to meet Emma's family and for the opportunity to offer that apology directly and to listen to their perspective and experience and I pay tribute to their dignity and strength in the years since her death.

It is important that Emma’s family and the public get answers to the many questions they have.

On Thursday, March 7, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs set out that there will be an independent judge-led statutory Public Inquiry to understand what went wrong, to ensure lessons are learned for the future and to provide answers to the victims and survivors involved.

The Lord Advocate has indicated she is taking advice on instructing a police service from outside Scotland to look further at allegations against officers.

Policing in Scotland has reflected and learned from the initial investigation and subsequent re-investigation.

Significant changes have been made in recent years to improve organisational culture and our response, particularly in respect of investigative structures, victim care and processes to these types of crimes. 

The delivery of our Violence against Women and Girls Strategy demonstrates our absolute commitment to tackling the violence and abuse that disproportionately affects women and girls.

We now await confirmation of the details of the Public Inquiry. I reiterate my support for the Inquiry and undertake unconditionally that Police Scotland will engage fully with that process. We will fully assist any further steps instructed by the Lord Advocate.

Organisational learning never ends and I am committed to relentlessly improving how Police Scotland respond to and serve the public, and to ensuring officers and staff uphold our values and help to deliver justice for victims.

We will enter the new financial and reporting year with a refreshed leadership team, having appointed new Deputies and with plans for recruitment for Assistant Chief Constables. I will ensure the Force Executive shares and delivers on a change agenda for policing that puts our communities at the heart of everything we do.

My first Annual Police Plan as Police Scotland's Chief Constable continues to place trust, confidence and performance at the top of our agenda and reflects the priorities and commitments I have directed for the service in the year ahead.

Since taking command, I've been clear my operational focus is in three areas - first, addressing threat, harm, and risk; second, prevention, problem solving and proactivity; and third, looking after the wellbeing of officers and staff so they can deliver for the public.

This report shines a light on some examples of how Police Scotland is delivering for the public across the first two areas - securing important court outcomes following our response to murders and attempted murders in the west of Scotland; the latest sentence as part of a major public protection investigation into the sexual abuse of young and vulnerable people in Edinburgh; an initiative to tackle housebreaking and motor theft in Forth Valley; and drug seizures.

Just yesterday, three men were jailed for a total of 59 years in relation to the murders and attempted murders in the west of Scotland.

Also this week, Benjamin Young was given a lifelong restriction order and sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison. Young had previously been convicted of 32 charges including serious sexual offending against children in the Argyll area following work by our National Child Abuse Investigation Unit.

In my written report I’ve also outlined the safeguarding of 22 vulnerable people and 16 arrests during a County Lines week of action which also resulted in the recovery of illegal drugs, cash, and offensive weapons, including a firearm.

These hugely positive results are an example of our determination to tackle organised crime and the criminals who profit from drugs, and target the vulnerable, This action is in support of Scotland’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy.

I've also highlighted a preventative programme of equestrian training to support better life chances for young people in the east end of Glasgow which was designed and arranged by a Sergeant based in the city, Lauren Semple.

Building positive relationships with communities and identifying diversion opportunities is an essential part of how we prevent crime.

Through the programme, young people spent time with officers and were provided with a platform to succeed, be empowered, trusted and to develop their social and professional capabilities as they approach adulthood.

The young people involved undertook a Scottish Qualifications Authority qualification in horse care as part of the programme, forging potential future career pathways and opportunities.

In the first year, 22 young people enrolled, and four participants progressed on to higher SQA levels, with a 100% success rate for all participants on the original programme.

Officers also reported broader benefits across community complaints, attendance, and incidents of anti-social behaviour and violence, reducing demand on policing and partner resources.

I want to recognise and thank Sergeant Semple for her work with organisations including the Scottish Racing Academy (SRA), Tannoch Stables, Horse Scotland, the Scottish Police Recreation Association, Hooves and Paws Equestrian Centre, and campus officers across five schools in Glasgow to identify and support the candidates through this programme.

The best of Scottish policing, as well as heroic acts by members of the public, was also celebrated at our Bravery and Excellence Awards, held at Police Scotland Headquarters, Tulliallan, on Friday, 23 February.

It is inspiring to hear from officers who put themselves in harm's way to protect the public and, at the same time, energising to reflect on the support communities provide to policing.

The awards, and the daily police work I see and hear about, underlines that our officers and staff are our greatest asset.

My third area of focus is my duty to nurture and support officers and staff, provide clear leadership and give them the training, skills and best modern technology to do their job.

I will continue to update the Authority on progress around Body Worn Video, which is an absolute priority for me, and which is outlined as a key milestone in my Annual Police Plan.

My report today also outlines significant progress on a programme to increase the number of Specially Trained Officers who are trained and equipped to carry Taser from 500 to 2,000, an important tactical option which can de-escalate situations and protect public and officer safety.

Of course, to focus on these three areas we need a sustainable, fit for purpose service and the ability to better understand and explain how we can deliver for the public. This month we present two plans – my Annual Police Plan and the budget for policing – which will be important to ensure we progress a necessary second phase of police reform in 2024-25.

I share the Authority's commitment to producing and delivering balanced budgets for policing. There are very positive indications that the 2023-24 budget will be delivered without the requirement of further contingency funding from the Scottish Government which policing had previously requested. Our confidence around this has allowed us to notify Scottish Government that we will not require the contingency.

This has been achieved by significant focus right across the Service and driven by the Force Executive. It has been extremely challenging and has had operational implications, some of which we have seen pulling through in our performance reporting.

I want to thank everyone who has driven this effort to reduce what was a forecast pressure of around £19m. This has been delivered through really challenging action including a pause on staff recruitment other than for business critical roles; a delay in officer recruitment which has had implications for our resourcing; and by having a very tight grip on overtime spend.

Policing in Scotland’s record of fiscal discipline and rigour has been an important component of stability and credibility in recent years and it is vital that we maintain the progress that has been made.

We propose a balanced budget for policing for 2024-25 and progress on a second phase of police reform is crucial to live within funding while maintaining service and tackling threat, harm and risk.

Our funding allocation for 2024-25 allows us to restart police officer recruitment and next week I will welcome around 200 new recruits into Police Scotland.

We are also carrying out targeted recruitment in rural areas and although our staff recruitment pause remains in place, we are recruiting in priority areas such as C3.

What is equally important, though, is the number of experienced officers performing frontline, operational policing for our communities and how we give those officers the best services and support to do their jobs.

The second phase of police reform will inform how we shape, train, enable, equip and deploy our greatest asset – our officers and staff – to best meet the evolving needs and complexities of our diverse communities at best value.

Where we can release officers, whether through our own redesign or through working differently with partners, I am committed to returning those officers to frontline, operational policing.

My Annual Police Plan outlines a new approach to performance reporting which will help us to better understand and explain our level of service, using hard data across key measures to also inform how we deploy resources and enable effective scrutiny and benchmarking to drive a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

I’ve been clear since taking command Police Scotland will be willing to challenge ourselves so that we continually improve; and so that we are high performing.

Our performance focus must revolve around effective prevention, problem-solving and proactivity which is synonymous with demand reduction.

Our new Performance and Accountability Framework outlines measures across five key themes – Trust and Confidence; Threat, Harm and Risk; Prevention, Problem Solving and Proactivity; Our People; and Enabling Services.

I want police leaders to use the framework to take a values based approach to identify trends; investigate what sits behind them and intervene so that we are high performing and deliver for the public.

Equally, where success has been achieved and evidenced, it is essential we share these examples of good practice and policing delivering for the public with our colleagues and external audiences.

The framework will illustrate performance more clearly and by using hard data. But it is not about chasing targets and we will not drive key measures through practices which are not aligned with our values and which do not genuinely deliver for the public. Policing should not hit targets but miss the point.

Our aim is to bring the frontline of Scottish policing to the strongest position possible within the resources available and that we tackle threat, harm and risk and move from being reactive to high volume but lower risk incidents towards greater prevention and problem solving.

In addition to the planning for a new operating model over next few years, we are beginning to consider longer term plans in terms of where policing will be by, for example, the end of this decade. This work is at a very early stage.

As I’ve been clear, ensuring Scotland continues to be a safe place to live and work is my commitment and priority as Chief Constable.

The Annual Police Plan 2024/25 was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 28 March 2024.