Equality Challenges facing the "New" Police Service

Corstorphine Police Station in Edinburgh

As of 1st April 2013 a new single Scottish police force will replace 8 regional and 2 national police agencies.

The amalgamation presents a number of challenges to policing in Scotland. One of the biggest challenges comes from the legal obligations the new force will inherit as a public authority, an large employer and as a service provider under the Equality Act 2010.

This article explores what potential risks and opportunities exist for the new force from an equalities perspective.

Legal obligations

The Equality Act will apply to the new police force. 

This means that the new force will have several legal obligations that cannot be ignored.

As a public authority, the force will have to have "due regard" to the promotion of equality of opportunity, the elimination of unlawful discrimination and the fostering of good relations between individuals who share protected characteristics.

The force will also act as an employer; not just of police officers but also of a large number of civilian staff. The force must not discriminate, harass or victimise someone because of their protected characteristic.

It is also likely, that the force will be a service provider. This means, that the clients or customers of the police are entitled not to be discriminated against in accessing police services.

It is all very well talking about these issues in the abstract. However, what will it mean in practice?

Example one - Hate Crime

This is the sort of racist graffiti that should be classified as a hate crime

It has already been acknowledged, by the incumbent Chief Constable, that there may be differentials between each of the individual force areas, in relation to the recording and processing of crime information.

This is due to different IT, training and employment practices between each of the existing police forces.

How this will impact upon the recording and monitoring of hate crime remains to be seen.

The identified issue here is not one of a lack of information within the police service generally about hate crime, but rather in the administrative processes behind reporting, identifying and then tackling hate crime at a local area.

Each individual police force areas utilises its own computer systems. Likewise, each individual force currently has separate training regimes in place for training both civilian staff and police officers concerning hate crime issues - or equality related issues generally.

It is unclear whether or not a new single police force will be any better equipped to deal with hate crime than its 8 predecessor forces.

The general duty described above, requires the new force to eliminate unlawful discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and to foster good relations.

If the IT and administrative structures of the new force are not up to the task of properly identifying, recording and tackling hate crime, then it is likely that this could constitute unlawful discrimination.

It is also likely, that the new force will not be able to comply with either the general duty or the scottish specific duties.

This could leave the new force open to judicial review of decisions taken if it has not had "due regard" to these important legal obligations in adopting new IT, administrative and training systems for the prevention, recording and detection of crime.

Example 2 - Employment Practice

In all likelihood, there will be some job losses as a consequence of dismantling 8 regional police forces and consolidating these into as single scottish police force.

The most likely source of job losses will be in administrative and back of house roles. because the Scottish Government has made clear that it does not want to reduce the number of front line Police.

At the moment, each individual force has identified individuals responsible for particular equality remits. For example, many local forces have community liaisons officers responsible for pro active engagement with LGBT people, minority ethnic and particular religious groups. Similarly, other administrative roles are also primarily concerned with the pro active promotion of equality with each individual force area.

It remains to be seen whether or not such arrangements will survive after April 1st.

It also remains to be seen whether or not the new force will adopt local equality training and promotion practice or if these particular functions will be centralised - one central equality officer replacing 8 regional officers.

It is also important to ensure that as a consequence of staff attrition, particular staff skill sets, such as those dealing with equality issues are not lost.

I do not know if the new police services authority, which is meant to supervise the work of the new force, has considered this point.

It is my experience, that many public bodies, when considering redundancy situations look to cover the basic legal requirements alone. It may not occur to them to also think further about the wider equalities impact of any redundancy exercise.

Example 3 - Service Provision

It will be unlawful for the new police force to discriminate in the provision of services. However, this duty goes beyond the obvious - denying access to the police services, harassing or victimising particular groups or individuals because they share a protected characteristic.

Consider the example of campaigns designed to tackle domestic abuse.

At the moment, under 8 separate authorities, each force is empowered to work with communities and other stakeholders on particular campaigns.

In Strathclyde, a poster campaign was launched to highlight the effect of rape and domestic abuse. In Lothian and Borders, similar posters are displayed at each local police station.

What is important here, is that a message gets delivered that victims of domestic abuse will be properly supported and that the police will act to prevent domestic abuse in what ever form it takes.

The majority of campaigns on domestic abuse are gendered - they specifically target men as perpetrators and women as victims. The majority of reported cases of domestic abuse follow this pattern and it appears logical that campaigns are designed around this model.

However, as our understanding of domestic abuse develops a new picture begins to emerge. In this new picture, we now see that domestic abuse can take place in same sex relationships too and that men can also be victims as well as perpetrators of domestic abuse. It is estimated that around 20% of cases reported and recorded in scotland place men in the role of victim.

The new police force cannot discriminate in the provision of services. This means that where a particular campaign is launched around an important social policy - such as tackling domestic abuse - that this campaign should not discriminate or stereotype to be more specific.

To a certain extent, this is already happening. Strathclyde made a point of highlighting that abuse can occur within a same sex relationship too as well as in mixed sex relationships in its latest poster campaign. However, there has yet to be any campaign, whether at a local or national level, addressing the issue of domestic abuse where men are portrayed in the role of victim and requiring support.

Hope for the Future

This article has sought to explore some of the equality issues and challenges that will face the new police force from April 1st.

I hope that the new force and the scottish police authority take the importance of these obligations seriously in order to build both the trust and confidence of the many diverse communities they will be empowered to serve.

Law Society is not above the Law

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Law Society of Scotland (The Society) recently took place in Edinburgh.  

At the AGM, a report was submitted for approval.  The report argued for separate representation of the Borrower and the Lender in a residential conveyancing transaction.  

This would mean that each party would have to have their own Solicitor.  

Currently, one Solicitor can represent both parties.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) also opposes the move to separate representation.

In my view, not enough consideration had been given to either the Equality or Human Rights implications of such as move.

Previous experience

I had attended the previous AGM, where I spoke from the floor of the importance of fulfilling legal obligations under Equality Law and also Human Rights Law.

I was given an assurance, following the issues raised, that the Society would, in future, publish both Equality and Human Rights impact assessments concerning any proposals being brought forward.

Indeed, earlier in the week, I had discussed this very point with the Society's Director of Representation and Support.

I am disappointed, that to date, the approach taken by the Society has been lacklustre.

I acknowledge that attempts are under way to make improvements, but I would have expected that such an important report, would have mentioned both human rights and equality elements.

Legal obligations

Unlike its counterpart in England and Wales, in Scotland, the Society operates as a Public Authority in terms of the Human Rights Act 1998. The Society is a Public Authority in respect of its regulatory and supervisory function of the Solicitor profession in Scotland.

The Society must have regard to the Convention Rights, namely those set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

By extension, the Law Society is also a Public Authority under the terms of the Equality Act 2010.

A Public Authority here, must have "due regard" to (1) the promotion of equality of opportunity, (2) the elimination of unlawful discrimination and (3) to foster good relations between groups who share protected characteristics (The General Duty).

There are also a series of "specific duties" which give teeth to the General Duty.

The Society acknowledges that it has to comply with the General Duty.

The Society also acknowledges that it has to comply with Convention Rights.

However, at today's AGM, as in the past, no evidence was presented that either obligation had been complied with.

Why are these obligations important?

In the present case, a proposal to approve the report of the working party on separate representation was presented to the meeting for endorsement.

The report, recommended making changes to the Professional Practice Rules to ensure that Solicitor's avoid conflict of interest by not acting for both a mortgage lender and a house purchaser.

It seems obvious, that in order to avoid an apparent conflict of interest, that a Solicitor either represents the borrower of the money - the house purchaser - or the lender of that money.

The Solicitor should not do both.

However, the case is actually more complex that the simple aim of avoiding a potential conflict of interest.

Human rights element: proportionality

As a Regulator, acting in the public interest, the Society needs to adopt a proportionate response to achieving a legitimate public policy aim.

It is not enough to simply say that avoiding a potential conflict of interest is a legitimate aim.

No one would disagree that there have to be rules concerning avoiding conflict of interest; what is important, is the way in which that aim is achieved - the response to achieving the aim must be proportionate.  

This is important, from a hypothetical house purchaser's point of view - keeping costs low and also needing to access a local Solicitor who would be willing to represent them.

It is also important from the point of view of any hypothetical Solicitor, who is potentially already being squeezed financially as a result of the current economic climate and may not be so keen on taking on low value work such as a first time purchase, the purchase of sheltered accommodation or negotiating the sale of a former matrimonial home.

Equalities element: avoiding indirect discrimination

It may be more expensive to buy a house if a client is forced to travel to appoint a Solicitor or if they are forced to pay more than one Solicitor for carrying similar legal work.

Whilst any requirement for separate representation would be applied equally to everyone seeking to buy a house, it could potentially have a disproportionate effect on younger people seeking to enter the housing market, disabled people seeking to buy supported accommodation or people getting separated or divorced.

Rural and high street practice: negative impact on wider legal representation 

Also consider the case of a hypothetical Solicitor engaged in rural or high street practice.

That Solicitor may rely upon the "bread and butter" income from conveyancing. That income too, may also be used, albeit indirectly, to subsidise other areas of practice, such as legal aid work or family law.  It could also mean the difference between keeping an office open in one location or closing down and centralising services elsewhere.

By restricting the type of domestic conveyancing work, the hypothetical Solicitor is now faced with a potential loss of income and has to decide whether or not to remain in practice or to close down the areas of work that were previously indirectly subsidised.

This would present a greater challenge for access to justice.

There is no merit in arguing the pros and cons of separate representation if there will be no one around to provide that representation in the first place.

No mention of human rights or equality


If a proper assessment of either Human Rights or Equality had formed part of the working group's report, it should have been in the report. There was no mention of it.

A proper assessment would have looked at the fine balancing act between being a Regulator and also the responsibilities of the Regulator to both act proportionately and also not to discriminate, albeit indirectly and to promote equality amongst other things.

I have shown the potential for both a human rights and equality impact stemming from the published report.

I was disappointed that I again had to ask why the Society had no considered both important legal obligations.

Future proposals

The Society's working group will now take forward the question of separate representation.

It is likely, whether in the near or distant future, that a concrete proposed rule change will be tabled for approval.

I do not want to have to stand up again, at this time in 2014, and ask where is the relevant human rights or equality impact assessments.

The Law Society is not above the law.

The Society must show evidence to demonstrate that it has had "due regard" to the obligations described above.  The recommended way of doing this is to publish equality and human rights impact assessments.

It is now time to change decades of inherent bad practice in the Society.

If the Society acts in the public interest then the Society must respect both Human Rights and Equality.

Parliament and the public expect this too.