This service terminates here? politics, practitioner perspectives, and the future of railway policing in Scotland

Kath Murray, Colin Atkinson

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)
    32 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Following the devolution of railway policing under the Scotland Act 2016, the Railway Policing (Scotland) Act 2017 set in motion a process that, if completed, will see BTP’s Scottish Division integrated into Scotland’s relatively new national police force, Police Scotland. The post-legislative journey has, however, proven far more challenging than supporters of integration envisaged. Drawing upon primary and secondary data, this article investigates the integration process to date and shows how a politicized and poorly managed transition programme has left employees 10 disillusioned, and fostered a deep strain of mistrust towards the project. With escalating costs, a lack of practitioner buy-in, the potential loss of experienced officers and staff, longer-term risks to the remaining BTP organization, and no clear evidence of benefits, the article concludes that the Scottish Government should call off full integration and consider an alternative approach towards the devolution of railway policing.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article numberpay074
    Pages (from-to)752-765
    Number of pages14
    JournalPolicing: A Journal of Policy and Practice
    Volume14
    Issue number3
    Early online date8 Nov 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2020

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'This service terminates here? politics, practitioner perspectives, and the future of railway policing in Scotland'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this