The Act – Section by Section Ethics of the police
13.All of the provision under this cross-heading concerns the ethics of the police and amends the 2012 Act.
14.There are several sources of ethics of Police Scotland. Firstly, there are the policing principles. By section 17(4) of the 2012 Act, the chief constable must seek to ensure that the policing of Scotland is done with due regard to the policing principles. By section 2(1)(b) of the 2012 Act, the SPA has, as one of its functions, the promotion of the policing principles. The policing principles are set out in section 32 of that Act. They set out, at a high level of generality, the main purpose of policing and how the Police Service of Scotland should seek to achieve that aim.
15.Secondly, there is the constable’s declaration. The constable’s declaration and its effect is set out in section 10 of the 2012 Act. The existing wording is as follows: “I, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, and that I will uphold fundamental human rights and accord equal respect to all people, according to law.”
16.Thirdly, there are the standards of professional behaviour. Section 52(2)(a)(i) of the 2012 Act gives the Scottish Ministers a power to set out in regulations standards of behaviour which, if breached, may be treated as misconduct. The standards of professional behaviour are found in schedule 1 of the Conduct Regulations. There are ten headings in total. A breach of the standards is not a criminal or a civil wrong, but may constitute a breach of a public law duty (in AB v A Chief Constable [2014] EWHC 1965 (QB), it was decided, in respect of the equivalent professional standards in England and Wales that, given they are made pursuant to statute, they form the basis of a series of public law duties imposed on all police officers2). A breach of the standards can lead to a finding of misconduct, but does not necessarily do so.
17.Fourthly, there is the code of ethics. A code of ethics is a type of code of conduct. It particularly relates to conduct which engages ethical standards. The Code of Ethics for Policing in Scotland is currently a non-statutory code, which sets out, in a non-binding way, the standards of those who contribute to policing in Scotland. It is produced by Police Scotland voluntarily but is well known about, both within policing and by the public, and is publicly available on the Police Scotland website(3).