Vision and 4 pillars refresh

Vision 

The aim of PT, as laid out in the strategy, was an ambitious vision in comparison to the aims and visions of other police organisations in the United Kingdom. For example, the overtly stated aim of becoming an anti-racist organisation, was not an aim that any other police service in the UK sought to achieve at that time. 

With the public acknowledgement on 25 May 2023 by the then Chief Constable, Sir Iain Livingstone, that Police Scotland was institutionally racist and discriminatory, which has been described as a historic moment, the vision for Police Scotland was propelled far further forward than was stated in the already ambitious vision of the strategy. From that moment the vision in the strategy was below what was now required following the public acknowledgement.

In December 2023, the decision was made to merge the portfolios of PT and Partnerships, Preventions and Community Wellbeing (PPCW), now called the Policing Together Division. The new combined portfolio provides the ideal combination that would link the internally focused activities of PT with the external service delivery activities of PPCW. This merger also provides the incentive to review the original PT vision. 

The new and merged division is called ‘Policing Together’. It has been recognised that this may result in an element of confusion due to the original concept of ‘Policing Together’ being a workstream and branding which brought together EDI activity across the service. This will be considered going forward as part of the work to refresh PT, its vision, and pillars.

In light of the above developments, it was agreed that the vision should be reviewed and refreshed, retaining the core of the original vision but expanding it to include more of a service delivery focus. A suitable first draft of the refreshed vision for Policing Together is below:

 Police Scotland is welcoming inclusive and representative of the communities we serve. 

 We will create working environments where people know they belong and can fully be themselves. 

 Our people will demonstrate our values to deliver the highest standard of service for all our diverse communities.

Pillars

Work to achieve the four outcomes and twenty-one commitments of the PT Strategy are currently grouped under the following four pillars. 
Leadership - Meaningful and sustainable change will require persistent focus and leadership. We recruit and promote people who share our values and behaviours and give officers and staff the tools and skills they need to lead culture change. Cultural change is everyone’s responsibility and will be driven by leaders across the organisation. 

Training - Seeks to address racism, misogyny, and all forms of discrimination within policing in Scotland. We recognise most officers and staff act in accordance with our values and standards every day. We also know that to continue to deliver excellent service in an ever-changing world, there is more we can learn about ourselves and others through continuous professional development. 

Prevention - The way we conduct ourselves, both on and off duty, is fundamental to maintaining public confidence and essential to policing by consent.

Communication - Corporate Communications have commenced an organisation-wide behaviour change campaign which over time, will positively impact on organisational culture. This is a long-term approach with campaign objectives split across three phases. 

The original pillars were indicators of inputs, and the revised model should show what progress is being made from the inputs and start to measure outcome. It is therefore proposed that the new pillars should be as follows:

Leadership – Meaningful and sustainable change will require persistent focus and leadership. We recruit and promote people who share our values and behaviours and give officers and staff the tools and skills they need to lead culture change. Cultural change is everyone’s responsibility however leadership is key to driving it forward across the organisation.

Learning (instead of the Training and Prevention pillars) – The combination of direct training and examples of behaviours that have breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour and Codes of Conduct, should provide officers and staff the knowledge to learn and develop their understanding and improve behaviours. 

Communities – Measuring community confidence rather than community contacts is intended to measure the impact of all contacts, whether planned or spontaneous, with different communities, particularly seldom asked, seldom heard communities.

Communication – The aim is to expand communication from information exchange to a dialogue between colleagues internally and with individuals, groups, and communities externally.

The work to refresh the vision was presented at the SPA PT Oversight Group in June. This vision and pillars refresh has also been socialised at the Senior Leadership Forum, the PT Tactical Group and PT Strategic Oversight Board. Feedback is being considered to finalise the refresh of the vision and pillars.