Eleven officers convicted of crimes remain on Police Scotland’s payroll, Chief Constable Jo Farrell has told the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee. Farrell said eight had been violent towards women and girls, and argued that current conduct rules do not allow some cases to reach dismissal quickly enough.
In her letter, Farrell said existing regulations can keep people who ultimately have “no place in policing” within the organisation for longer than they should be. She also said cases with what she called “incontrovertible evidence” cannot be fast-tracked for dismissal under the current arrangements. Her description of that position as “intolerable” is a serious institutional criticism from the force’s own chief.
Farrell put the annual cost of 80 suspended officers at £4.5m, citing sluggish conduct arrangements and the time cases take to pass through the courts. The report does not say whether any of the 11 convicted officers are suspended, what work status they hold, or the employment basis for their continued pay. It would therefore be wrong to treat payroll status as evidence that they are carrying out police duties.
The Scottish government has introduced regulations to Parliament that Justice Secretary Neil Gray said would allow Police Scotland to act more quickly in cases involving convictions, while improving transparency and support for victims and witnesses. Farrell said the proposals could modernise the conduct regime and accelerate hearings in the most serious cases.
That response addresses the problem Farrell has put before Parliament, but its value will rest on implementation. A faster route from conviction to an employment decision can be justified only if it remains fair, uses appropriate safeguards and produces outcomes the public can examine. The BBC report does not identify the offences, conviction dates or employment circumstances of the 11 officers, so those individual cases cannot be judged from this disclosure alone.
Sources
- BBC UK · Source date: 2026-11-15
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-15