Consultation Hub

We sought views that would help us shape the use of Body Worn Video (BWV) by armed policing officers when interacting with the public. We felt it was important to engage and involve individuals, communities, and our partners to gain their views and measure their confidence in how we use technology and continue to police by consent.

We received almost 9,000 responses to our survey. This illustrated the large public interest in this topic and the public’s motivation to continue to be involved in the development of Police Scotland’s policies across both geographic and demographic communities, including a notable proportion of respondents: with a disability or long-term health condition (18%); currently employed by Police Scotland (15%); and under the age of 29 (17%).

We found that:

• A large majority of respondents (73%) reported that the use of BWV would help respondents feel “much safer” (58%) or “slightly safer” (15%), a quarter reported it would make them feel “neither more or less safe”;
• Nine in ten respondents reported that BWV should be used “always” (74%) or “often” (16%);
• 78% of respondents reported that knowing interactions with the public are recorded would increase their trust and confidence in Police Scotland.

Your views have informed the decision making process as we move forward to the next stage in the delivery of BWV to our armed police officers across Scotland.

We understand that we need to understand more about this topic before BWV is rolled out more widely. Further public engagement will be undertaken before we introduce BWV in other areas of policing, including for our response officers across local policing divisions.  This engagement will involve our stakeholders, a public survey and focus groups with our diverse communities and planning for this is already underway.

In December 2019 the Scottish Government updated its Strategic Police Priorities, prompting a refresh of the Scottish Police Authority's and Police Scotland’s strategic police plan and long term strategy for policing.

The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland wanted to gather views of the communities of Scotland on our long term strategic direction.

The strategy, Policing for a safe, protected and resilient Scotland, was developed around five strategic outcomes, which describe the positive impact we are seeking for the people and communities of Scotland, as well as officers and staff:

• Threats to public safety and wellbeing are resolved by a proactive and responsive police service
• The needs of local communities are addressed through effective service delivery
• The public, communities and partners are engaged, involved and have confidence in policing
• Our people are supported through a positive working environment enabling them to serve the public
• Police Scotland is sustainable, adaptable and prepared for future challenges

Your opinions make sure that our plan fits with expectations and enables continued collaboration, and that we are able to identify any areas of the plan that require to be amended or strengthened.

We received a strong level of support for the approach set out.  This provides us with the assurance that these approaches have support and confidence from the public and partners.

The percentage of respondents who ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ were:

• Outcome 1: Keeping people safe – 80%
• Outcome 2: Communities are at the heart of policing – 76%
• Outcome 3: How we involve you – 75%
• Outcome 4: Supporting our people – 75%
• Outcome 5: Sustainable policing for the future – 70%

1,451 responses, including approximately 2455 free text responses, were received. These responses allowed us to gain a more in-depth understanding of respondents’ views. Comments were reviewed against the draft Joint Strategy for Policing and allowed us to make changes that reflected your views.

In addition to this feedback, we also considered feedback from key partners before the plan was finalised and approved by the Scottish Police Authority on 25 March 2020.

The comments received will also inform future strategic work, such as our approach to cybercrime.

You can read the final strategy here. It is also attached at the bottom of this page, alongside a summary report of the consultation and an Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment summary report.

We are grateful to all who participated and thank you to all who indicated they would like to continue to engage with us in the future.

Police Scotland asked how you want us to engage with you about football policing to help us to write a new engagement strategy which will make sure football supporters and our communities are involved in how Police Scotland works at football.

We asked for details of any experience of football-related engagement you have already had with Police Scotland, including what you thought we did well and what we did not do well, along with suggestions for improvement.

We asked if you wanted to hear from us about football policing and suggested some outcomes that could be worked towards.  For those who do want to hear from us, we asked for opinions on some suggested outcomes, what topics you would like us to engage with you about and how you want us to do this. 

Your opinions and suggestions will make sure that our football engagement strategy will be directed at meeting the needs of football supporters and the wider public as well as encouraging positive relationships between police and public at football. 

We received 6,817 responses from a mix of football supporters (95%) and non-football supporters (5%) and 57% of those who replied live or work in an area where football takes place. 

77% of people said they had not previously engaged with Police Scotland about football. Of those who have previously engaged, it is clear that many of your experiences have not been positive and this is something we will try to improve on in future.  

41% of football supporters said that they want Police Scotland to engage with them about football policing in the future. The most popular methods are:

• for the engagement to be carried out via their club - 30%
• using Police Scotland local social media accounts - 20%
• passing on information from other sources such as traffic and travel information - 16%
• face-to-face meetings - 15%    

6,817 responses were received by the deadline. 

We have carried out an initial review of the responses and at this stage we have been able to identify key themes.  However, we can see that many people have taken time to provide detailed and thoughtful opinions and suggestions and these will have to be looked at in more depth.   

We will upload an in-depth engagement report with insights from this survey in early 2020.

We are grateful to all who participated and thank you for taking the time to provide such a wide range of responses.