Who We Are

The Scottish Police Authority is independent of both the Scottish Government and policing. It is the primary governance body for policing in Scotland, and was established as a public body on 1 April 2013 by the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. It was set up to hold the Chief Constable to account; promote, support and oversee improvement in policing. It is also responsible for the management and delivery of Forensic Services in Scotland and Independent Custody Visiting Scotland.

In this section, find out more about the Authority’s priorities, the Board and the Leadership team.

Who We Are

What We Do

The Scottish Police Authority is responsible for maintaining policing. It has four specific areas of responsibility:

promoting the policing principles

supporting continuous improvement

keeping policing under review

holding the Chief Constable to account.

This section tells you in outline what the Authority does.

What We Do

Defence Access Policy

This page tells you about the Defence Access Policy.

The Forensic Services Defence Access policy document is a summary of the Standard Operating Procedure implemented at all Forensic Services sites.

This policy is relevant whenever the Procurator Fiscal grants access to productions and information held by Forensic Services.

The Defence Access Policy has been developed to ensure that defence agents and independent forensic science experts have access that is consistent, fair and transparent.