House to lead new single police force

David Leask

Reporter

Wednesday 26 September 2012

HE was always the champion of a Scottish national police force.

appointed: Stephen House will be Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland. Picture: Marc Turner

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David Leask

Now he will be its first Chief Constable too.

The favourite, Stephen House, was yesterday formally appointed to the second-most powerful post in UK policing.

The current Strathclyde chief – already responsible for law and order in nearly half the country – will take up the role this autumn of forging Scotland's eight territorial police forces into one before the new service launches on April 1 next year.

Last night the 55-year-old former assistant commissioner at the Met was relishing taking over the £208,000-a-year post. Mr House said: "I am delighted to accept this new and exciting post "My views on the creation of a single Police Service of Scotland have been widely publicised, so it gives me great professional pride to be trusted with the responsibility for developing and leading the new service."Police and political insiders had long assumed the Glasgow-born but English-accented Mr House would get the top job he did so much to create.Some of the other contenders for the job, including Grampian Chief Constable Colin McKerracher, had fallen far short of full support for the very idea of a single force.At Strathclyde, Mr House was – to quote one colleague – "un-relenting" in his aim to drive down violent crime. In the city centre of Glasgow, alone, the most serious non-sexual violent crimes have halved since he took office as chief constable in 2007.Mr House last night signalled he would continue that focus, albeit allowing local commanders to decide local priorities.He said: "The priority for the new service will be to continue keeping people safe in Scotland, and there will be no let-up on the work to tackle organised criminality, violence and all the other issues which are of concern to our communities."Local policing is a vital part of this and I am determined it will be at the heart of the Police Service of Scotland ethos."However, the new chief also warned: "There are changes to make and these will not be easy."We need to organise ourselves better. We need to tackle inconsistencies in national systems and procedures, while backing the local discretion of commanders to deal with local issues."Mr House lobbied for a single force long before it was fashionable. He argued that if an area as big as Strathclyde could have one force – it includes areas as diverse as Mull and Motherwell – then so could the rest of the country.However, he has also not been shy to make his views known on other big issues, such as his support for the SNP's policy of minimum pricing for alcohol.Mr House will answer to Vic Emery, a former official on the Edinburgh trams project who was appointed chairman of the national policy authority, the body that will oversee the single force.Mr Emery said: "We are both entering new and uncharted territory. That's challenging and exciting."

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House to lead new single police force

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