Background

Police officers and staff hold a privileged position within our society and often members of the public are at their most vulnerable when they come into contact with the police service. It is imperative that officers and staff act with integrity and professionalism at all times, both within our communities and within the workforce to uphold public trust and confidence and ensure Police Scotland is an inclusive and safe place to work.

As a consequence in April 2022 the Chief Constable and his Strategic Leadership Board approved an uplift to the vetting function by some 16 vetting officers. The primary purpose of this uplift was to introduce additional vetting measures and enhance PSOS approach to vetting, which included;

Reaffirmation vetting checks for new recruits.
Annual randomised re-vetting programme.
Meet the increasing BAU demands on vetting.

This uplift is now complete and all vetting officers are fully trained, the re-affirmation programme is in place and operating effectively with the annual programme of randomised re-vetting commencing in April 2023.

Police Scotland conduct over 7000 vetting applications on an annual basis with those applications progressed on a priority basis with initial priority afforded to new police officer recruits and members of police staff. There are few instances where employment is undertaken in advance of those applications being completed regardless of the role or requirement to work within Police Scotland premises including contractors and service providers working within the Police Scotland estate. Over 5000 officers and staff are vetted to a higher level than recruitment vetting and those designated post holders have their vetting reviewed on an annual basis. Any backlogs associated with vetting are generally in relation to contractors and service providers supporting our estates function.