A critical report into a 'cleaned-up' version of stop and search has been delayed after a draft was sent to Police Scotland.
Dundee University was supposed to release its findings into the high-profile Fife pilot last month, but the publication date was put back following "feedback" from the single force.
The force's search policy became mired in scandal last year after it emerged that frisks were far higher than in the rest of the UK, and that the majority of searches had no legal basis.
Young children had also been searched on a "consensual" basis, a practice condemned by MSPs and human rights campaigners.
As a result of the controversies, Police Scotland launched a pilot scheme based on reforming the policy and improving consent.
The parents of all children searched received letters, "enhanced" information was provided to everyone frisked, and increased "opportunities" were made available to the public for feedback.
It started in July 2014 and ended earlier this year, after which the University researchers analysed the data.
The evaluation was funded by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and the Scottish Institute for Policing Research.
According to the University, the original publication date was supposed to be April.
On April 2, a draft copy of the report was sent to Police Scotland and the publication date has since been delayed.
The University now says a "final" copy will be sent to the force this week.
Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said: "There seems to be a worrying lack of accountability here when a report is sent to Police Scotland to check it for accuracy.
"This is particularly a concern when the report is critical of the pilot."
A spokesman for the University of Dundee said, "The research team presented the draft report to Police Scotland on 2nd April. Their feedback was passed to the researchers, who carried out further due diligence on the data collected in light of their comments as part of the normal fact-checking process.
"This aspect of the project took longer to complete than anticipated and, along with the researchers' other professional commitments, resulted in publication being delayed. The final draft will be presented to Police Scotland next week."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "In line with good academic practice, Police Scotland and other interested parties would expect to be sent a copy of any draft report for fact-checking, to ensure data referred to was accurate."
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