Just eight whistleblower complaints about officers have been investigated since Police Scotland brought in new rules more than two years ago.
The figures emerged after we revealed prosecutors were investigating criminal allegations about a retired senior officer, submitted using the new guidance.
The claims about retired assistant chief constable John Neilson, 60, date back to 2003 but were sent to the force earlier this year.
It’s one of just eight whistleblowing referrals looked at by the force’s Professional Standards Department since 2017, according to figures released using Freedom of Information legislation.
The guidance was introduced after a string of controversies over how the force had handled complaints about its officers.
Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “Given the unique obligations placed on police officers, the SPF submitted that the proposed whistleblowing policy was the wrong solution to the wrong problem.
"We always considered that confidence in the internal complaints system was of greater significance than any new policy.
“It’s difficult to say with any degree of certainty but it appears that the issue of lack of confidence may well be a prevailing concern in spite of the whistleblowing policy.”
Police Scotland said it would not reveal anything other than the number of referrals when we requested information on what it had done with its internal whistleblowing complaints.
It said its refusal to reveal anything else was to protect whistleblowers under the Public Interest Disclosures Act 1998.
Last week, we revealed Mr Neilson, a former senior police officer awarded the Queen’s Policing Medal, was being probed over claims he doctored paperwork that saw a man jailed in 2003.
A complaint has been made claiming Mr Neilson tampered with paperwork which approved a surveillance operation and raid on Gerry Lafferty’s home in East Kilbride.
Lafferty, who died in 2016, was jailed for three years when officers found a large quantity of Class A drugs at his home.
Police Scotland’s investigation into Mr Neilson, who denies any wrongdoing, was passed to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Criminal Allegations Against the Police Division.
Prosecutors are deciding on what action, if any, should be taken against him.
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “The revised guidance streamlined the whistleblowing process and the advice line and training is intended to reinforce our people’s confidence to raise matters.”
