The information, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request, follows on from an article in May which revealed 1,512 Police Officers in Scotland have secondary businesses & jobs in addition to their work as Police Officers.
The information relating to business interests of Police Officers is recorded on the Police Scotland HR system (SCOPE).
Police Officers in Scotland are required to conform to the provisions of the Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013 which state: “A constable must not have a business interest without the consent of— (a) the Authority, in the case of a senior officer; (b) the chief constable, in the case of any other constable, provided that, in the case of any such constable in whose case the chief constable has an interest otherwise than as chief constable, the chief constable must refer the matter to the Authority for it to consider whether to consent.”
While the details disclosed by Police Scotland does not name actual companies and businesses in which officers are involved, the level of detail gives a flavour of potential cross over between cops second jobs and activities in public authorities, public contracts and particularly relationships with the legal world.
Police Scotland refused to provide an actual breakdown of organisations by name, claiming the cost would be too much to provide this information.
However, there is a significant public interest in the identification of businesses in which Police Officers operate, alongside their occupation as law enforcers, given potential conflicts of interest which can only truly be judged by the public, rather than Police Scotland itself.
The latest figures from Police Scotland reveal that since January 2015 there has been 354 Police Officers and 48 Police Staff who have been granted a business interest which is recorded on their SCOPE record.
However, Police Scotland refused to provide information on the number of Police Officers and Police Staff who have had a business interest refused – citing cost grounds on providing the information.
Police Scotland claimed they would have to “manually check each and every individuals personnel file to see if any individuals have applied and been refused”.
The full disclosure from Police Scotland on Police Officers & civilian staff outside business interests as of July 2017:
Chief Superintendent: Education, Entertainment, Property Letting.
Superintendent: Agriculture, Property Letting, Shop or Other Like Business.
Chief Inspector: Coach, Director of Scottish Police Credit Union, Driving, Education, Golf, Photography, Property Letting, Shop or other like business, Sport Related, Voluntary Worker
Inspector: Administration, Board of Director, Football Club, Coach, Consultant, Crew member, Dance Class, Driving related, Education, Entertainment, Holiday Letting, Photography, Play in a Band, Property Letting, Referee, Retail Industry, Sales, Shop or other like business, Sport Related, Trade, Voluntary Worker:
Sergeant: Account manager, Administration, Agriculture, Childminding, Coastguard Rescue Officer, Construction, Consultancy, Driving, Education, Entertainment, Fitness, Football, Interior design/upholstery business, Gardening related, Health related, Landscape gardening, Musical interest, Office work, Photography, Piper, Play in a Band, Property Letting Retail, self-employed Joiner, Shop or other like business, Sport Related, Trade, Voluntary bailiff, Voluntary Worker.
Police Constable: Administration, Agriculture, Army cadet force instruction, beauty therapies, Catering, Cake making, Child-minding, Child nursery, Cleaning services, Coach, Coastguard Rescue Officer, Construction, Consultancy, Crew member, Cricket, Deer stalking, Driving, Education, Electrician, Entertainment, Fitness, Football, Foster carer, Freelance instructor, Gardening related, Ground maintenance worker, Gym attendant, Handicrafts, Handyman, Health related, Home carer, Indent chipping, Joiner, Martial arts, Motorcycle training instructor, Musical interest, Office work, Partner in family own farm, Parent Council, Photography, Piper, Play in a Band, Political, Professional footballer, Property Letting, Referee, Reservist, Retail, RNLI Lifeboat crew, Sales, Search Team Member, Self-defence Instructor, self-employed Joiner, Shop or other like business, Sport Related, Sports Therapy/rehabilitation, Spray Painter, Stockman, Tele-marketing, Territorial ARMY, Therapist, Trade, Training, Tutor, Unpaid Garage assistant, Voluntary Worker, Volunteer - Highland hospice, Volunteer - HM Coastguard, Web development and hosting, Writer.
Police staff (Civilian employees): Administration, Agriculture, B&B / Guest House, Beauty Therapies, Bicycle repairs, Caretaker, Cleaning Services, Comedy writer / Performer, Consultant, Consultant trainer, Dance class, Director, Driving, Education, Electrician, Entertainment, General maintenance Person, Handicrafts, Musical interest, Office work, Photography, Play in a Band, Property Letting, Receptionist/Administrator, Relief Support Worker, Reservist, Retail, Sales, Sale and Marketing, Secretary/treasurer, Self-catering holiday accommodation, Shop or other like business, Sport Related, Therapist, Trade, Voluntary Worker Wedding planner and car hire.
A Freedom of Information request recently published by Police Scotland on the website whatdotheyknow reveals figures of at least 1,512 Police Officers who have business interests outside their main employment in the Police Service for Scotland.
Regulation 5 of the aforesaid regulations outlines the provisions concerning any 'business interest' of a police officer. Police officers may also choose to disclose business interests of spouses or partners.
All police officers business interests are granted by the Chief Constable, which are based on their own particular circumstances and review dates are similarly set (based on individual).
Legislatively, the term 'business interests' covers a variety of categories and directorships fall within this. While a member of police staff is not legislatively required to declare business interests/secondary employment, contracts of employment can outline constraints on such activity.
For instance, some senior posts in Police Scotland are restricted; some politically, some commercially, some both.
Furthermore, the Anti-Corruption Policy includes putting in place procedures that support the identification of risks that business interests or secondary employment may pose to the organisation or individual.
For Chief Officers, this permission is granted (under Regulation 5 of the Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013) by the Police Authority. The conditions and circumstances are outlined in this legislation which is available online, therefore section 25(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 applies: information which the applicant can reasonably obtain other than by requesting it under section 1(1) is exempt information.
Information provided by Police Scotland revealed executive members (including the now resigned DCC Neil Richardson) business interests from 1 April 2014-31 March 2015.
Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick: Property letting, Member and Trustee of various Charitable Organisations
Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson: Property letting, Board Member for Scottish Institute of Policy Research Trustee/Vice President of various Police Associations
Journalists then requested further details from Police Scotland in a request for review of the FOI disclosure, requesting the organisations referenced in the initial disclosure be identified.
The subsequent response from Police Scotland revealed:
Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson: Trustee, The Police Treatment Centres charity; Vice President, Police Mutual Board Member; The Scottish Institute for Policing Research.
Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick: Member, Scottish Chief Police Officers Association; Trustee, The Rank Foundation (Charitable Organisation); Trustee, Salle Ossian Community Sports Club (Charitable Organisation); Advisory Panel Member, Dfuse (Charitable Organisation; Patron, Revolving Doors (Charitable Organisation)
In relation to the numbers of properties rented out by senior Police Officers, Police Scotland refused to release details on the numbers of properties.
Police Scotland said in their response to the Freedom of Information request: “In relation to the number of properties relating to each Deputy Chief Constable, I have decided not to provide this level of information requested by you as it is considered to be exempt in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act).”
“The number of properties which the respective Deputy Chief Constables hold as business interests is classed as personal information and as such Police Scotland believes that the disclosure of this information would cause unwarranted prejudice to the rights and freedoms and legitimate interests of the data subjects. Accordingly, release of this information into the public domain would breach the requirement to process personal data fairly, as laid down by the first data protection principle in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998. This is an absolute exemption and does not require the application of the public interest test”"
Police Scotland also refused to provide any values for the properties rented out by senior Police Officers, claiming the force did not hold the information:
Police Scotland said in their response: “Finally, Police Scotland does not hold details on the value of each property, as there is no requirement to do so under Regulation 5 of the Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013.”
In comparison to the Police Scotland disclosure - members of Scotland’s 700 plus strong judiciary – who take the ultimate decisions on the results of Police detection of crime - do not share any details on their outside interests save a handful of judges who serve on the ruling Board of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).
COPS DECLARE, JUDGES CONCEAL:
Members of Scotland's judiciary continue to wage a bitter five year campaign against proposals to require members of Scotland’s judiciary to declare their interests, and links to big business.
The salary scales of officers in Police Scotland - where all officers are required to declare their interests - show a Police Scotland constable can expect £24,204 per annum going up to £83,925 for a Chief Superintendent with 3 years experience to Assistant Chief Constables: £115,000, Deputy Chief Constables: £169,600 and the Chief Constable: £212,280
However – Scotland;s judges have no such requirement to declare interests, despite their huge judicial salaries skyrocketing from Sheriffs on £144,172 a year up to Sheriff Principals on £155,706 a year while judges of the Outer House of the Court of Session earn £179,768 a year, Inner House judges earning £204,695. The Lord Justice Clerk (currently Lady Dorrian) earns £215,695 a year, and the Lord President (currently Lord Carloway, aka Colin Sutherland) earns £222,862 a year.
The proposal to bring greater transparency to Scotland’s judiciary - Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary - first debated at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee in January 2013 – calls for the creation of a publicly available register of judicial interests – containing information on judges’ backgrounds, figures relating to personal wealth, undeclared earnings, business & family connections inside & outside of the legal profession, membership of organisations, property and land, offshore investments, hospitality, details on recusals and other information routinely lodged in registers of interest across all walks of public life in the UK and around the world.
A full debate on the proposal to require judges to declare their interests was held at the Scottish Parliament on 9 October 2014 - ending in a motion calling on the Scottish Government to create a register of judicial interests. The motion was overwhelmingly supported by MSPs from all political parties.
Previous articles on the lack of transparency within Scotland’s judiciary, investigations by Diary of Injustice including reports from the Sunday Herald and Sunday Mail newspapers, and video footage of debates at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee can be found here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary.
Well Peter this about nails it for judges!Given all the other extra jobs the cops and their staff are doing there is NO WAY on this earth the judiciary can escape declaring their interests!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you put it about first responders v last responders too!!Very appropriate!!
and they are naturally all declaring their outside earnings to hmrc right?
ReplyDeleteThe cops are doing a snow job here all the companies and whatever should be identified otherwise who is to say what is really going on in the background and how this affects their police duties.
Put it this way if a cop works in a certain field and is then called out to some incident involving something in exactly the same field how is he going to react? Is anything going to be declared on the spot? I am not suggesting for one minute any of the cops might be biased but there is a natural tendency for people in the same line of work to cover up for others in the same line of work more often than not their paths cross and then we have financial benefits from each other and the rest.
Little wonder the judges are battling so hard against the parliament on this because they must be up to all sorts far above even the extremes of the Police property empires and consultants work.
Keep up the good work Peter!
You should ask the cops on why they allow cops to earn backhanders from lawyers for intimidating people on the side and plods who suddenly come by expensive properties on the cheap from small high street lawyers after their clients due off.Quite a few of these on the go Peter would do well to expose the scandal because the newspapers dont want to for some unknown reason!
ReplyDeleteDont forget to say hello to the CCU.They are currently spying on 16 journalists.Police Scotland has become quite a little GCHQ for cops,Crown office and SG.
ReplyDeleteWell written.And rather than criticizing the Police for their interests you praised their transparency against the refusal of judges to do likewise.
ReplyDeleteVery good Peter.Also very good blog.A very credible resource you put together over other outlets from your part of the world but then again you publish all the material for us to wade thru!{praise not criticism!)
later
Police Scotland claimed they would have to “manually check each and every individuals personnel file to see if any individuals have applied and been refused”.
ReplyDeleteWho are they kidding! So Police Scotland do not have computerized records of applications but, in the 21st century, choose instead to drwon in a sea of paper?
What nonsense.
What Police Scotland is actually about these days http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15512265.Police_officer_cleared_of_sexually_assaulting_colleague_at_Edinburgh_station/
ReplyDelete3rd September
Police officer cleared of sexually assaulting colleague at Edinburgh station
A POLICE officer accused of groping a female colleague while sitting in a room packed with fellow officers has been cleared – despite a sheriff criticising his evidence.
PC Brian King was said to have touched the woman as the pair sat in the Muster Room at Police Scotland’s Fettes police station during a shift changeover.
Mr King was seen to motion for the woman to sit next to him by rubbing the seat but as she approached the chair he was said to have turned his hand over and wiggled his fingers in a provocative manner.
The female PC, who is in her 30s, said she believed Mr King would pull his hand away but as she sat down she found his hand still underneath her bottom.
She said the PC’s stunt, in front of around 15 fellow officers, had left her “humiliated and embarrassed”.
Mr King had denied making any gesture and claimed he was only spinning the seat round for the woman to sit on during the incident on January 18 last year.
The woman said she believed Mr King had assaulted her but the case against Mr King was found to be not proven following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week.
However, in clearing Mr King, 52, of assaulting the woman, Sheriff Adrian Cottam told the officer he was “rejecting your explanation of how things happened” and he was accepting “almost entirely the evidence of the complainer”.
But he added: “I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt there was an attack on the complainer.
“I am not satisfied it would be an assault for a person to leave their hand on a chair for a clothed person to sit on - it might be reckless at best.”
this is probably the most protected racket you will ever read about ,,
ReplyDelete