Controlling the Constable in Scotland: Discretion, Discipline and Ethics

1
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

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INTRODUCTION

• Police work is unlike other forms
• of employment since the police
• department has the special property
• that within it discretion increases
• as one moves down the hierarchy.
• J.Q. Wilson (1968) Varieties of Police Behavior
  p. 7

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POLICE DISCRETION

• 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

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DISCIPLINE

• Misconduct
• 4.  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

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Discipline (2)

• 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

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POLICE ETHICS

• 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)

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Police Ethics (2)

• 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 and
• bad orchards.
• Maurice Punch (2010) Police Corruption
  Deviance, Accountability and Reform in Policing
  pp. 47-8

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CONCLUSION

• 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.