Budget deal for police shows confidence in my leadership, says chief constable

Scotland’s top police officer has said the force’s budget settlement is a sign of the Scottish Government’s confidence in her leadership.

Chief Constable Jo Farrell, who was appointed to the job in October, welcomed the £104 million uplift provided by Tuesday’s Budget.

She said it would allow Police Scotland to restart recruitment before the end of the financial year.

During her first appearance before the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, she was also questioned on her use of a police car to take her to her home in Durham – something she has previously apologised for.

Ms Farrell set out her priorities for her role, saying she believes “passionately about the value policing brings to our communities” and how she wanted police to be “highly trusted by the people we serve”.

She said one of her first commitments was to accelerate the roll-out of body-worn video cameras among police, something which has been discussed for years.

This is due to start in the summer of 2024, she said.

She said Police Scotland is now bringing together the eight crime systems from the legacy regional forces.

Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay asked her about her use of a police car to go home to England, saying, “any other officer doing this might have expected their P45”.

He asked if the incident had compromised her relationship with the Government.

The chief constable reiterated her apology, saying she regretted the “error of judgement”.

She said Police Scotland had made a “credible and detailed” budget request to the Government, adding: “I think the result of that yesterday speaks to the confidence Government have … in me as a leader of this organisation but, more importantly, the work that’s been done by my colleagues over the previous 10 years in bringing about a fantastic, national, police service to Scotland.”

Mr Findlay asked why Police Scotland still did not have body-worn cameras despite them being in standard use in other police services in the UK.

Ms Farrell said the issue is the scale at which the Scottish police force would need to deploy the cameras and the need for data security.