 The new agency aims to tackle serious crime |
Misgivings about the proposed new anti-crime agency have been expressed by a senior police officer. The general principles of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill were passed by the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.
It proposes a Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, recruiting from Scotland's eight forces.
However, Chief Constable of Fife, Peter Wilson, said the proposals had not been thought out clearly.
He said they jeopardised the future unity and purpose of the police.
The Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) was set up to crack down on Scotland's drug barons.
Until now the agency has been a wholly-owned and controlled subsidiary of Scotland's eight police forces.
The new proposals before parliament will create the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, dubbed the Scottish version of the FBI.
It will have its own chief constable, its own money and its own staff. It will be accountable not to the eight chief constables, but to the new police services authority proposed in the bill.
'Plans sustainable'
Chief Constable Wilson, who is head of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said the agency could lead to a two-tier police force.
He said: "We certainly need part of policing to include the sort of work that the SDEA does at the moment.
"We don't need, and never has it been debated, a separate organisation which is about something else."
However, Annabel Goldie MSP, who heads Holyrood's justice 2 committee, said the proposals were sensible, sustainable and desirable.
Knife proposals
The bill also includes proposals on knife crime, football banning orders and a tightening of legislation on marches and parades.
However, some police chiefs have questioned whether the knife proposals, which include doubling the maximum sentence for carrying a knife to four years, would make a significant difference.
Chief Superintendent Tom Buchan, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, told a Holyrood committee that the increased sentences would apply only to those prosecuted at the more serious indictment level.
Most cases would still go through the courts at the less serious summary level, where the maximum sentence remains at six months.
This concern was picked up by the justice 2 committee, which gave its backing to the bill but called for more cases to be brought on indictment.
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We don't need, and never has it been debated, a separate organisation which is about something else
