A senior police figure today calls on chiefs to look at privatising parts of the service as the country moves towards a single force.
David O'Connor, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (Asps), says a single force should consider whether "all kinds of work and support work" could be carried out by private companies.
While senior officers say the transfer of functions to the private sector are not part of the current planning for the new force, The Herald understands two Scottish forces have already met private provider G4S to discuss such proposals.
There have been high-level discussions within forces about privatising police support functions such as IT, human resources and procurement and other administration areas, roles that are currently undertaken by civilian staff.
Speaking ahead of his address to the Asps annual conference, he said: "In our professional opinion, we need to consider how this might be done and what the cost effectiveness would be.
"I know that others – including the Police Federation – would probably be against this, but it needs to be looked at.
"We have to keep an open mind and make the best use of the money we have.
"There are all kinds of work and support work functions that could potentially be privatised."
Traditionally, privatisation has been vehemently opposed north of the Border. In the face of massive cutbacks, forces in England and Wales are looking to privatise more and more parts of the service.
Speaking to The Herald, Mr O'Connor said he would not go as far as supporting the controversial police community support officers – known as "plastic plods" – introduced in England and Wales, but encouraged officers to "keep an open mind".
Prisoner escorting has already been privatised in Scotland but it met strong opposition.
He will tell the conference today: "Our view of business partnering or outsourcing is that some aspects of the work or services currently undertaken traditionally within forces might, under Best Value, be better provided by other private or public sector organisations. We have an open mind on this and would want to see the evidence before committing to any change. We believe Scotland can find an approach that best suits Scotland."
Asps has a long history of having its recommendations agreed by ministers and the police service, but chief officers said privatisation does not currently form part of the reform agenda.
Assistant Chief Constable Cliff Anderson, General Secretary of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos), said: "The transfer of functions to the private sector does not feature as part of the current plans for the reform of the police service in Scotland."
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will also be speaking at the conference.
Yesterday he announced a number of amendments to the legislation currently going through parliament that will amalgamate Scotland's eight forces into one.
The amendments include strengthening the independent role of the new chief constable, and making him or her responsible for the annual police plan.
Mr MacAskill said: "This Government is absolutely clear that moving to single services is the best way forward for Scotland and the best way to protect frontline police and fire and rescue services, the 35-year low in recorded crime, the 50% reduction in fire deaths in a decade and the 1000 extra officers we have put on our streets since 2007 while the UK Government prepares to cut 16,000 police officer posts."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Our Police and Fire Reform Bill maintains the status of the police as a public service and we have no plans to change this."
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