POLICE reform has hit officer and staff morale in Fife but not affected local services, according to the new single force's independent inspectorate.

The region has seen some of the biggest changes in Scotland over the last year and a half with renewed emphasis on crimes like domestic violence and changes in stop-and-search tactics.

Some sources have suggested that noses have been put out of joint in Fife amid allegations -always denied - of "Strathclydisation".

However, HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, Derek Penman, has declared business as usual in local policing in the division, which was a force in is own right until Police Scotland was created in April, 2013.

After an inspection report on local policing, the first of a planned series, he said: "The transition to a single service has been made swiftly and has not detracted from the delivery of local policing.

"However the pace and nature of change has affected the morale of officers and staff and more needs to be done to improve internal communication and engagement processes."

Fife, along with Dumfries and Galloway, was one of just two parts of the country whose force had the same boundaries as its local council and relationships with other services were traditionally thought to be strong. Mr Penman acknowledged this and stressed that such partnerships had been maintained.

He said: "The division has some areas of good practice which could be shared across the country.

"These include their enhanced community engagement model with Fife Council."

Fife officers began to carry out more stop and searches after the force merger, a key tactic Chief Constable Sir Stephen House first brought to Strathclyde and then rolled out nationally when he took charge of the single service.

Mr Penman said he'd been "impressed by the local scrutiny" by Fife councillors on the changes, which have led to the division leading a pilot project on improving stop and searches.

Crime is up in Fife, partly as more domestic violence cases are recorded. Mr McEwan, welcoming the HMICS report, said: "The review period covered 2013-14, a time when there was a noticeable increase in private space violence across Fife, specifically relating to domestic abuse. However, by implementing a smarter and more coordinated partnership approach to tackling this issue - which has included supporting victims, whilst proactively and robustly tackling offenders - we are now witnessing a reduction in such offences across Fife."

He added that the report provided "searching independent insight into whether we are addressing community concerns and meeting local needs."