Council leaders are to invite Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House to a meeting to discuss his policy of allowing firearms officers to carry weapons on regular duties.

Sir Stephen is expected to attend such a meeting but is likely to be resistant to pressure to change tack.

Council leaders are concerned both about the policy and about a perceived lack of local accountability since the creation of Police Scotland.

While monitoring and scrutiny of local policing matters is still possible at local authority level, and the Scottish Police Authority provides national accountability, council leaders have issues with the lack of robust means to comment on national policing strategy affecting their areas.

This is not simply a battle over turf. Council leaders are representing a concern from members of the public over a policy that at best has been misunderstood and misinterpreted and when questioned has probably not been effectively explained.

Police Scotland says armed officers should be able to attend call-outs where no firearms response is needed because they are first and foremost police officers. If a swift response can be delivered, it should be delivered, rather than waiting for an unarmed officer to arrive from further away.

It is not unreasonable to ask why firearms officers cannot simply leave their weapons behind when attending a more routine call. Police Scotland's position is that once their weapons are attached at the beginning of the day, armed officers must keep them equipped even when deployed on regular patrols and operational tasks. This is so that if they are needed for an incident, they are not working against time to arm themselves in a high-pressure situation.

The arguments advanced by Police Scotland are reasonable, yet members of the public, reacting in part to media coverage, still express alarm at the sight of armed officers, and question the need for this approach.

Local authority leaders unanimously backed a Cosla report expressing concerns about police officers carrying firearms on regular duties. They will respond to various reviews of the policy now under way and make representations to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and the Scottish Parliament.

Police Scotland may claim, as it does, that this policy is not unusual and not even new, but it is appropriate to debate it. Mr MacAskill may accept Sir Stephen's view that this is an operational matter for the police chief. But it is a grey area and it is clear the majority of the public feel it goes beyond a simple operational matter.

We have been assured there is nothing to be alarmed about but the national force has clearly not managed to engage with council leaders and assuage their concerns.

The numbers of officers involved may be small, at fewer than two per cent of the force, but it is still appropriate to debate issues of accountability. Councils are right to put questions to Sir Stephen and Police Scotland would benefit from communicating why this policy is necessary.