Consultation Hub

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.

Our final strategy is 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.

Police Scotland wanted to introduce new strategic outcomes for policing that describe the impact and difference Police Scotland aims to make to the lives of people across Scotland. These are:

• Threats to public safety and wellbeing are resolved by a responsive police service           
• The needs of local communities are addressed through effective service delivery            
• Public and communities 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

We asked for opinions from people across Scotland on our proposed outcomes, our approach, and how you want to be involved in working with us to continue to shape future services. We were also keen to hear views to help shape our future strategies in respect to prevention and public contact and engagement.

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

We received a strong level of support for the approaches set out.  This provides Police Scotland 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:

• Our policing priorities: 87%
• Outcome 1 – Keeping people safe: 86%
• Outcome 2 – Communities are at the heart of policing: 82%
• Outcome 3 – Contacting and talking to us: 79%
• Outcome 4 – Supporting our people: 81%
• Outcome 5 – Meeting demand: 74%

1,995 responses were received by the deadline, with some extra received after this point. Many respondents also provided comments which were reviewed against our draft Annual Police Plan 2019/20.

In addition to this feedback, we also considered feedback from the Scottish Police Authority and other key partners before the plan was finalised and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 29 March 2019.

The comments received will also inform future strategic work, including on public contact and engagement and prevention.

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.