Delivering on our Priorities

Tackling Crime in the Digital Age

The fifth annual Cyber Scotland Week started at the end of February and involved significant engagement from the Cybercrime Harm Prevention team.  They launched Cyber Choices Scotland which is a National Crime Agency led programme designed to identify young people on the cusp of cyber criminality and divert them to legal and positive pathways. 

The team continue to deliver significant preventative interventions across Scotland, and most recently, they have been working with Children’s Hearing Panel members to deliver in depth sessions that highlight the online realities faced by young people today.   

Protecting Vulnerable People

Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy

Police Scotland has undertaken a significant programme of research and engagement activity to develop a Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy that meets the needs of victims and survivors and reflects the unique role policing has in tackling VAWG.

Scottish Government, COSLA and SPA are key stakeholders and have been integral to the development of the strategy. 

The VAWG Strategy and Implementation Plan was presented to the SPA Policing Performance Committee on 16 March and further details on this important work will be outlined later in today’s meeting.

Road Safety and Road Crime 

On 16 March we presented our third Performance Report of 2022 – 23 to the Performance Board.  This report covers the breadth and depth of Police Scotland’s response in the year up to December 2022. 

Despite significant reductions in road fatalities between 2010 and 2020, 2022- 23 has seen a concerning increase on recent years and against the five year average.

We continue to work with the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and a range of other road safety partners to improve road safety in Scotland. Our commitment is clear – road safety is a priority and our officers are supporting this every single day through education and enforcement.

The new Road Safety Framework (RSF) with interim targets to 2030 has been published and has challenging reductions in the number of adults and children killed and seriously injured from a 2014/18 baseline, working towards the Vision Zero target of no deaths and no serious injuries on Scotland’s roads by 2050.

Police Scotland has been identifying and mitigating risks to all road users to meet this target, including an in-depth fatality study in partnership with Transport Scotland.  The National Road Safety Calendar of activity will focus on the fatal five causation factors, careless driving, drink/drug driving, speeding, seatbelts and mobile phones / distraction, and all initiatives are being supported by Corporate Communications and Social Media