It is arguably the most controversial decision that the Scottish government has ever made and it still arouses strong feelings across the country. To merge all nine of Scotland’s police forces into one was a decision that was bound to infuriate: it irked local councils who lost control, enraged communities who felt they were losing touch, and upset the public who feared a vast, impersonal bureaucracy.
But from the start it had one powerful advocate. Vic Emery, who chairs the Scottish police authority, approached it from a business perspective. If the force could be made more efficient, he argued, then, far from neglecting local needs, it should be better placed to respond to them. As a shipbuilder, director of BAE Systems and the man who