Scottish cops told "invest in tech"

Scottish police should buy performance-related IT systems to improve the quality of work, a government report has decided.

The Scottish arm of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found there was "substantial scope for development in relation to planning and priority setting, particularly at a national level".

Kenny McInnes, assistant inspector of constabulary, said: "The public, now more than ever, demand high standards of policing and expect to be kept informed of how the police are performing at local, force and national levels.

"Best value and the executive's efficient government agenda also dictate that the police service needs to demonstrate that it is providing value for money. That requires accurate, reliable and timely performance information, gathered in a way that does not tie up valuable resources."

Among the recommendations, the HMIC report said the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) should consider the purchase of IT solutions across all forces as a priority. It added that forces and common police services should establish systems to ensure robust performance data can be captured easily.

The current level of spending on policing in Scotland is £1bn.