JUSTICE SECRETARY Michael Matheson has denied he needs to "get a grip" of Police Scotland amid claims of misconduct about officers at the top of the force.
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins was suspended with immediate effect by the Scottish Police Authority on Friday afternoon. Three other officers have also been suspended and two have been placed on restricted duties.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) is also looking into allegations of misconduct against Chief Constable Phil Gormley, who is currently on "special leave".
The Scottish Conservative spokesman on justice, Liam Kerr said: "The conspicuous absences of the Justice Secretary – my view would be that he's got to step out of the shadows and get a grip on this.
"The Justice Secretary is responsible for this. The Justice Secretary has to be coming out and saying 'there is a problem. We politically smashed together the single force and we are going to take responsibility for making it work', and frankly that is just not what's happening."
Police Scotland has also faced criticism over its call-handling systems, with a review by Pirc uncovering a number of failings in the way police dealt with some 999 calls.
Michael Matheson denied it was up to politicians to take over operational matters within the police.
He said: "This is now a live investigation, which has been taken forward by Pirc. Allow that process to be taken forward."
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