THE head of a Police Scotland unit that was the subject of a critical inspector’s report this week has been moved from his post.
Chief Superintendent Clark Cuzen, who led the Counter Corruption Unit (CCU) when it unlawfully spied on journalists’ sources, is now working on a project examining the impact of Brexit on the single force.
Scottish Green MSP John Finnie said: “It’s clear the CCU was out of control and therefore the person in charge must be held accountable.”
The CCU was set up in 2013 as the single point of contact to investigate criminality against police officers.
However, the Sunday Herald newspaper revealed that the CCU had used its spying powers to establish whether serving and retired officers had leaked information to the media about the murder of sex worker Emma Caldwell.
Police forces are required to obtain judicial approval before using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Act) for such purposes, but the force failed to do so.
The Scottish Police Authority tasked Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) with reviewing the circumstances of the breach and the CCU’s wider practices.
During the HMICS probe, other officers came forward to say they had been treated unfairly by the CCU.
On Monday, the Inspectorate published its report and made 39 recommendations for reforming the troubled Unit.
On the CCU’s unlawful molehunt, the report stated: “It is my assessment that the CCU Intelligence development activity lacked objectivity and that those responsible applied prematurely for the acquisition and disclosure of communications data.”
The watchdog added: “I found that information handling processes within the CCU were significantly different from national standards for source and information evaluation and fell below the standards I would have expected.”
It called on the CCU to introduce “robust and effective scrutiny arrangements” for its operations, including “greater oversight” from chief officers.
Derek Penman, the most senior figure at the watchdog, gave evidence to MSPs on Tuesday and he repeated his call for reform.
Picture: Derek Penman
Cuzen served at the old Strathclyde force before joining Police Scotland in 2013.
He was one of several officers who declined to give oral evidence to the Holyrood Justice Committee on the RIPA breach scandal.
The CCU will now be overseen by assistant chief constable Steve Johnson, while Cuzen is moved to head up a project relating to the European Union.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “There are big questions to be answered about why this individual has been moved. It was an unceremonious moment for Police Scotland when individuals refused to give evidence to the Committee and it is only right that we understand what has happened here.”
Finnie said: “A number of officers remain aggrieved by the manner in which they were dealt with by the CCU and all eyes are now on Police Scotland to see if this is the start of changes many believe are needed.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "As part of the work ongoing to review the approach to counter corruption in Police Scotland, the operation of the CCU will be overseen by Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson working closely with other dedicated senior officers.
“Detective Chief Superintendent Clark Cuzen is currently engaged in work relating to assessing the implications of the EU membership referendum and its potential impact on Police Scotland as part of the wider, European law enforcement community."
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 here