The chief constable of Police Scotland is to step down earlier than planned following a barrage of negative publicity, according to reports.
Sir Stephen House is expected to formally announce his departure at a meeting of the Scottish police authority on Thursday, the BBC said. He is expected to leave in three months, after previously indicating he was likely to leave his post when his four-year contract expires in September 2016.
House and Police Scotland were heavily criticised after the death of Lamara Bell in a car accident on the M9. The seriously injured 25-year-old woman lay undiscovered for three days in her car, next to her dead boyfriend, after police failed to respond to a report of a motorway crash. Bell and her partner, John Yuill, 28, had been reported missing by friends after they were last seen early on 5 July.
House also came under fire over armed officers being put on routine patrol and his force’s policies on stopping and searching juveniles. Eighty-three children under the age of 11 were stopped and searched in six months last year without any proof of a crime, a figure that dwarfs all other comparable figures anywhere in the UK.
Last month, Scottish Labour tabled a motion in the Scottish parliament calling for House’s resignation. Previously the chief constable of Strathclyde Police, House oversaw the complex amalgamation of Scotland’s eight regional police forces into the single national force, the second largest in the UK. The move has triggered much criticism.
The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, Willie Rennie, who has been a fierce critic of the single force, said: “Decapitating the chief constable won’t solve the deep-rooted problems in Police Scotland. A new chief carrying on as if nothing is wrong will cement the problems rather than solve them. The early resignation of chief constable Stephen House reveals the chaos at the heart of Police Scotland.”
Rennie laid ultimate blame on the Scottish government. “Ultimately the SNP government must accept responsibility for this chaos. They rammed through the centralisation of our police service despite warnings. They set up the toothless Scottish Police Authority. They appointed the chief constable.
“With the departure of the chief constable, there is an urgent need for a wider inquiry into the operation of Police Scotland. Rank-and-file police officers and civilian staff are crying out for a fresh start.”
Brian Docherty, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “Sir Stephen has made a monumental contribution to policing. I have little doubt that history will prove to be kinder to Sir Stephen than the current commentary, which at times has been vindictive and deeply personal.
“Many people feared that a single police service could be susceptible to political interference and those who have called for the head of the chief constable as some form of trophy need to consider that.”
