Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Armed police show lack of checks on police claims Baroness Goldie

Armed officers on the beat  in Inverness
Armed officers on the beat in Inverness

Tory grandee Annabel Goldie has laid into the Justice Secretary over armed police on the streets of Scotland.

The former Scottish Conservative leader said the controversy surrounding the issue highlighted the lack of public accountability since the creation of Police Scotland.

The presence of authorised firearms officers openly displaying their weapons while on routine patrol has drawn massive criticism, particularly in areas like the Highlands.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has refused to get involved claiming it is an operation decision for Chief Constable Sir Stephen House.

Earlier this week he made a statement to the Scottish Parliament in which he promised to cap the number of armed officers at 2% of the total number.

In the Scottish Parliament yesterday Baroness Goldie said: “This whole issue lays bare the Achilles heel of a single police force that has no meaningful accountability to local areas – a threat about which my party repeatedly warned the cabinet secretary.”

She asked Mr MacAskill: “Does he now concede that the policy regrettably confirms that vital checks and balances have been lost by the rolling out of a uniform police culture across all of Scotland, regardless of need or appropriateness?”

The justice secretary replied: “No. I believe that there are now significantly more checks, balances and safeguards that existed under the former regime.”

Mr MacAskill said the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Parliament justice sub-committee – which did not exist previously – kept tabs on the police.

On top, there was also the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, HM Inspector of Constabulary and the commitment for a three-monthly review of the number of armed police officers deployed, he said.