iStockEleven officers who have been convicted of crimes including violence against women and girls are still being paid, Police Scotland’s chief constable has said.
Jo Farrell also said 80 officers who had been suspended were costing the taxpayer £4.5m a year, a situation she branded “intolerable”.
Farrell blamed “sluggish conduct arrangements” for not being able to kick officers out of the force quickly enough.
Some are being paid more than a year after conviction, she said in a letter to convener David Linden MSP ahead of a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee this week.
In the letter Farrell, who leads the 22,000-strong force, said: “There are cases of proven criminality where the existing process has taken too long because of sub-optimal regulations.
“This can leave individuals who ultimately have no place in policing within the organisation for longer than they should be.”
She continued: “There are other cases where there is incontrovertible evidence against officers which cannot be fast-tracked for dismissal under current arrangements.
“This is intolerable to me, as Chief Constable, and would rightly be intolerable to the public.”
She said criminal proceedings and “sluggish conduct arrangements” leave officers suspended, at times for years, which has a “welfare impact, a cost to the public purse, and reduce policing’s overall deployable resource”.
“We assess the annual cost of the 80 officers currently suspended to be approximately £4.5m,” Farrell said in her letter.
The committee will be discussing options that will allow Police Scotland to act quicker in cases where there are convictions.
The Chief Constable said the proposals under consideration would “modernise the police conduct regime, to accelerate hearings for the most serious cases and enhance transparency of outcomes”.
“I strongly support the focus on treating witnesses and complainers in a trauma-informed way,” she said.
Justice secretary Neil Gray said: “The Chief Constable is right that cases involving officers convicted of serious offences should be dealt with more quickly.
“This is why we have introduced regulations to Parliament that will allow Police Scotland to act quicker in cases where there are convictions.”
Gray added: “These are aimed at improving transparency and strengthening support for victims and witnesses, while retaining appropriate safeguards.”
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