The outgoing head of Scotland’s police watchdog has said the national force needs better quality of oversight rather than increased scrutiny.
Susan Deacon quit her post as chairwoman of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) on Thursday after arguing the system was “fundamentally flawed”.
However, she argued against a claim by justice secretary Humza Yousaf that Police Scotland be “the most most scrutinised public body” in the country, stating the “clutter” of organisations monitoring police activity made her job more difficult.
READ MORE: Police Scotland watchdog Susan Deacon resigns
She told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I was very struck about the cabinet secretary saying that what we need is more scrutiny.”
“What we need is better scrutiny, effective scrutiny of what is the UK's second largest police service.
"Simply having a clutter of organisations all dabbling about doing different things does not more effective scrutiny make.”
She added: "It is too easy to default into saying you will make a few tweaks to the personalities and processes of the SPA then somehow you will have a more effective system."
Professor Deacon became the third person to chair the watchdog amid a series of scandals since Scotland nationalised its police force in 2013.
She said the systems and functions of the SPA were not properly established when it was launched alongside the single force.
She added: "There was a system put in place when this legislation was created and it was rushed - everybody has acknowledged that.
"Other public bodies take maybe a year to organise and plan, and design how they are going to work alongside government and other organisations."
Mr Yousaf, also appearing on the programme, said he did not believe there was anything wrong with the set-up, though conceded it was “not perfect”.
READ MORE: Police oversight chief Susan Deacon blames predecessor for failings
He told the show: "Even our harshest critics would be the first to admit that in the last couple of years, and in no small part down to Susan Deacon, policing has been on a much more stable footing.”
"Is it perfect? No, and there are improvements to make. But even in Susan's resignation letter she was clear that policing is in a stronger place than it has been previously."
Mr Yousaf added: “The justice committee should be able to scrutinise wherever it wants to. Government and cross-party parliamentarians have a role to scrutinise, as does HMICS - the police is probably the most scrutinised body in Scotland, and so it should be."
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