Controlling the Constable in Scotland: Discretion, Discipline and Ethics

Dr Ken Scott, Associate Director, SIPR; Director, Centre for Criminal Justice University of the West of Scotland

‘Police work is unlike other forms of employment since the police department has the special propertythat within it discretion increasesas one moves down the hierarchy.’[J.Q. Wilson (1968) Varieties of Police Behavior : p. 7]

‘The police invevitably have discretion in the enforcement of laws for at least two reasons. One is that they could never have adequate resources for full enforcement of every law. . . Second, even the most precisely worded rule of law requires interpretation in concrete situations . . . These considerations make discretion unavoidable, but is it also desirable.’

[Robert Reiner (2010) The Politics of the Police, 4th edition: pp.206-7]

Misconduct4.  For the purposes of these Regulations,

an act or omission of a constable shall amount to misconduct on the part of the constable if it falls within any of the kinds of conduct described in Schedule 1.

[Police (Conduct) Scotland Regulations 1996]

Complaints‘By recording complaints, police bodies can assure both the users and the

providers of their services that they take such

concerns seriously. Complaints also provide valuable insight into the services being provided.’ [Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland (2011) Police

Complaints: Statistics for Scotland 2010-11 : p. 1]

‘Police ethics are about how police officers

and police leaders make the right judgements and do the right things,

for the right reasons.’

P.Neyroud and A Beckley (2001) Policing, Ethics and Human Rights : p.37)

Police ‘Corruption’‘I abandon simplistic notions of individual

and primarily financial arrangements and reject the bad apple analogy. Rather I shall be examining bad barrels andbad orchards.’[Maurice Punch (2010) Police Corruption: Deviance, Accountability and Reform in Policing: pp. 47-8]

For the general public in Scotland, the front-line of policing is the bottom-line.

In reforming the landscape of police accountability, there needs to be a

place for discussing ‘controlling the constable’.