Quintin Jardine's blog

Top of the Scottish news this morning was a think tank proposal that the notion of a single Scottish police force should be binned and the present eight force structure should be replaced by thirty-two local forces. I’m not sure who was in that tank, but whoever, they couldn’t have been thinking too hard. While I am dead against a unitary force, and would like to see Strathclyde broken into at least three units, going to thirty-two seems crazy, particularly so if these are to be overseen at local level adding to the burdens on Scotland’s councils at a time when they are being pressed to lower costs and increase efficiency.