Economic challenge for policing

Police forces have been urged to explore new ways of working

Spending pressures during the recession will require police forces to become more efficient, a watchdog has warned.

The Inspectorate of Constabulary said police forces and other police bodies would have to work more closely with each other.

They will also have to consider how new services are to be delivered and who should deliver them.

The warning came from HM Chief Inspector for Scotland Bill Skelly in his annual report.

Mr Skelly's warning came hard on the heels of an Audit Scotland report that said public services faced their greatest financial pressure since devolution.

The police watchdog said economies of scale could be achieved by measures like rationalising back-office processes, centralising offices and adopting a national approach to procurement, it said.

By looking collectively at prioritising and processing the needs of the same members of the public, there are efficiency gains to be made Mr Bill Skelly HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary

Bill Skelly said: "In delivering existing businesses better, we need to drive out inefficiencies from existing services.

"Where possible, partnership working should be used to provide services.

"By looking collectively at prioritising and processing the needs of the same members of the public, there are efficiency gains to be made by all the public sector organisations involved."

Mr Skelly said "good progress" had been made on identifying strategic priorities.

He said the establishment of major national units and the on-going work on the Scottish Policing Performance Framework showed what forces and other organisations could achieve when they worked together.

His report said Scotland had a record number of police with 17,375 officers at the end of March, 5.8% more than the previous March.

The rise was caused by several factors, including the Scottish government delivering on its pledge of 1,000 extra officers within its term of office and several councils spending more on police funding.

The number of recruits trained had increased by 240%, and women officers now account for 25% of the Scottish police force establishment.