Highland Council tables evidence to armed police inquiry
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HIGHLAND Council has submitted evidence to a special inquiry set up to look into Police Scotland’s decision to arm officers.
Deputy leader, Black Isle councillor David Alston, said the probe by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) gave Highland politicians another chance to express concern over the controversial ruling.
Scotland’s Chief Constable Sir Stephen House changed the style of British policing in March 2013 by arming a small number of officers and allowing them to attend run-of-the-mill incidents with handguns.
Previously, guns were locked in a cabinet in the boot of patrol cars.
Councillor Alston said: "What we keep coming back to is the fact that the change which took place was an abandonment of the principle of unarmed policing. It was a change to the nature of policing and I think that’s the point that the Chief Constable keeps missing. That’s what needs to be recognised."
The SPA, set up in March 2013 to hold the chief constable to account, sent questionnaires to more than 350 groups to gauge the nature of public concern.
It wants to know how much consideration the force gave to communities when it brought in the change.
The chief constable earlier this month said armed officers would no longer be attending routine incidents with handguns.
The U-turn was warmly welcomed by many politicians and residents in the area but the Highlands’ top officer, Chief Superintendent Julian Innes, has admitted armed police could return to deployment on routine patrols if future reviews of the policy call for it.
The SPA inquiry was rolled out at the same time as a separate review into armed policing by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland.
The SPA will draw together both bodies of evidence and will report findings and recommendations to the authority’s public meeting on December 17.
