Proposals calling for each local authority area in Scotland to have a policing plan driven by a senior officer are to be debated by the Scottish Liberal Democrats at their conference later this year.
The party said the plans would make the police chief in each of Scotland's 32 council areas accountable to the local authority.
Reform to the Scottish Police Authority, including the appointment of members, will also be looked at during their autumn conference in October.
The proposals, which are backed by the party's leader Willie Rennie and justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes, also repeats their call for the powers of the chief constable to be defined in statute.
Mr Rennie said: "Scottish Liberal Democrats have led criticism of the centralisation of Police Scotland because it severed the link between police and local communities.
"Our proposals to put democracy back into Scottish policing are radical and substantial. They would ensure that the democratic architecture of the single force gives local communities a voice.
"I look forward to debating these further at conference. But I will be clear that there is nothing to stop SNP ministers giving these proposals serious consideration straight away."
He added: "We need to return to police by consent where communities feel ownership of the police service in their area whilst pooling resources for specialist units and services. This will help to restore the confidence of the public and the morale of police officers and civilian staff. Protecting our civil liberties and keeping us safe are two ambitions for this sensible but radical policy."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Since the launch of the new policing arrangements, strong progress has been made on the reform journey to deliver an integrated and effective single service and the benefits that brings.
"People in Scotland deserve the highest standard of policing and we will continue to work with Police Scotland, the chief constable and his successor, and the new chair of the Scottish Police Authority to ensure this is the case.
"Reform has strengthened the connection between policing and the communities it serves. There are 14 local commanders and 32 area commanders who work closely with local authorities to shape and deliver community policing and local policing plans for each area.
"The Cabinet Secretary has already announced he will host a Local Scrutiny Summit in September to further strengthen local accountability."
A Scottish Police Authority (SPA) spokesman said: "Local councillors who have responded to SPA surveys in each of the last two years have expressed satisfaction that local police plans do reflect local priorities.
"We know that can be enhanced further and just last week Police Scotland began its engagement with partners on its priorities for 2016-17.
"SPA and Police Scotland have acknowledged that further improvements in local engagement are required. Last February's joint agreement on engagement which commits Police Scotland to advance engagement with SPA and others on any issues likely to generate significant public interest is a major statement of expectations and intent on that.
"We are also looking forward to engaging further with local representatives at the Cabinet Secretary's local scrutiny summit at the end of September, and building on the three partnership sessions already held by the SPA and Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) for national and local scrutiny members."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel