What do you expect from Cathy Jamieson? Lenient on crime, and lenient on the causes of crime. She should be renamed Injustice Minister for all the good she does.

In any event, she also has control freak tendencies, hence her allowing the police in Scotland to keep DNA and biological samples of totally innocent people. Then again, like the rest of her fellow numpties, she is only following instructions from their political masters in Westminster.

Nothing against you Guga, apart from your choice of residence. What the hell, I live in Tasmania, which is an island in the back of beyond. The more I hear about Cathy Jamieson, the more I like her. I once read a book on Glasgow, No Mean City, or whatever. My hero in that book was Big Tam frae the Toll. I do not suppose he is alive any more, but those guys go down into history like William Wallace. Ach, I apologise, I am only remembering the good old days.

Guga.........."she is only following instructions from their political masters in Westminster"???

Westminster gave the IPCC its powers to set up open discplinary proceedings.............your "argument" is flawed once again

#3 You miss the point. She has not emulated Westminster in this regard as she is not capable of administering justice in Scotland. She does, however, follow her masters voice, from Westminster, by trying to turn us into a police state; and in this case, one where the police are not to be held publicly accountable.

England is a "foreign" country in terms of law and particularly in terms of Police(Scotland) Acts and Disciplinary Regulations. Why is it necessary to follow everything England does. Now perhaps if there were open hearings concerning doctors, lawyers, politicians etc. etc. I might agree but ........

John Scott self appointed "human rights" lawyer would say that. Pity that his fellow lawyers viz the Law Society and the Faculty of Advocates,dont want any outside agency to investigate them'
Read today that Tommy (wee ara peepel)Sheridans lawyer and QC after falsely accusing a witness of serving a term in prison for fraud have now refused to reveal there "sources" for the bum information. There lawyers so thats ok then.

Well said #5 I cannot understand why everyone jumps on the lets follow England bandwagon...
Just because it is being implemented in England doesnt make it right or good...I just wish the justice minister hadnt jumped on the DNA bandwagon.

Guga you ar right.
All hearings should be open for all.
The idea that police, doctors etc etc are treated differently is out of date and undemocratic.
As paid servants of the people we should have the right to hear these hearings. I would go much further and ensure that no police or doctors were on these boards.
Time to modernise.

'he looked at me with aggression in his eyes' was one of many thousands of similar nonsensical complaints made each year by members of the public. Such matters occupy untold hours of police time making internal investigations, time better spent improving the service, dealing with real criminals etc. As a retired cop I say let someone else do it, it would probably take another massive govt dept to handle the workload and they probably wouldnt do as thorough a job in any case.

Cathy jamieson spews about the injustice system, modernise,transparency,robust and independent.
What a load of guff, is there no end to this hopeless mincers talent for delivering meaningless sounbites
and constant failure to reach her own targets on crime. Cathy go home.

This is all wrong you know. Do Scottish cops need to be disciplined??

I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that in Scotland, we have the best polis money can buy!

Why should it matter whether the tribunals are held in public or not? It's the procedure that's important not whether you or I can go along

I am a serving police officer with 28 years service. I have no problem with having hearings in public as long as there is adequate redress against those who make up ficticious complaints, which constitute the vast majority of those made against police officers who do a very difficult job with little appreciation from the public.

Allegations of criminality are, and always have been, independently overseen by the Procurator Fiscals and the courts who are responsible to the crown office and the who the police have no influence over.

However to be truly representative and fair I assume that every complaint made against every person in the course of their work should also be subject to 'public scrutiny'.

Guga & GP I await an invite to your work when someone makes a complaint about you so I can see how fairly you are dealt with.

Well no surprises here then the Police should be more accountable they are acting like they are part of a dictatorship and the public are getting a third rate service from them. Cathy Jamieson is body swerving this one as she has many other matters. The new appointment is again one of political merit and while we have a system that encourages jobs for the boys in every walk of public life we will never have an open and transparent complaints or revue process. HMIC are the biggest waste of tax payers money they do absolutely nothing other than send out meaningless letters on very expensive stationary and I expect the new department will just follow the same path.

Its time Jamieson was having her pay docked because all she has managed to do so far is create even more difficulties for the people of Scotland. Maybe she should have stuck with her appointment on the Co-Op board and left the politics to those with the nerve to fight for what is right.

12# agree with you 100%.

The best way to get this done is this. Scottish parliamentarians should also be scrutinised. After all their has been occasion(LOL) for abuse of public purse. E.g. Scottish Trade Ministers Getting walloped at functions on free bevvy then getting the chaufer to stop so they can pee in the street of a small village. As a documented example. I am sure i just heard a cat amongst some pidgeons....... The only thing they advertised about scotland and trade was "it's true, our greatest exports are drunks!" Not ingenuity and enlightened thought.

So in essence ask for accountability from them(Scottish parliament/executive) and watch them find corrupt cops galore! As long as nobody looks at them!The old switch focus routine!

I am sure if Items like this came to light from personell reviews. Their would be a shift of focus to their political masters. Regarding #12 I agree the polis have to deal with wee neds , who when get caught tell a pack of lies. But some wee neds do get pastings and some wee neds do report it. Unfortunately the procurator fiscal is only interested in results and is more political than jamieson. especialy when investigating colegues they rely on in court !

I had the missfortune to attend the fiscals in edinburgh. Despite 3 independent people witnessing a man raping a woman through a window against her will. They dropped the case to a lesser charge of assault. Only for the ANIMAL to be released to say it was the woman who made it up! So my confidence in their powers of deductive intelligence is NIL. Especially when investigating colegues.

As a transplanted Police Officer serving in Canada, I do understand the requirement to have open hearings in respect of serious Police misconduct. I am however as are many other Police Officers aware of the high amount of false complaints made in order to bring down the reputation of any officer, when a suspect is accused of an offence. Credibility of the Police Officer can often destroy a Police case and it is a known fact that cases are lost in court by any stretch of reasonable doubt.

If we are to investigate and hold hearings on all complaints of conduct by Police Officers, then we would over tax the Justice System more than it already is. Scotland by virtue of common law, has far more lienency with respect to the accused than Canada or even the USA. I recently returned home for a vist and was amazed at how the youth and individuals seem to have little or no regard for law and order. They seem to indulge more in these activities because of the lienency of the Scottish courts.

I think if we really want to make the Police more accountable, then we need to fix the broken link, the Justice and court systems. I can tell you from the persepective of enforcing law in two countries, that I get get buried in more paperwork dealing with minor issues, when I should be out on the streets. I am often still trying to finish my paperwork when the accused has already been released from custody and is providing his colourful verbal remarks to me on the way out the door.

Police accountability is required, but lets not go overboard and lets not emulate another country for the sake of it.