Regarding your leader column (12 August) on the issue of British Transport Police’s Scottish division being absorbed into the mess that is Police Scotland, quite apart from the lack of understanding displayed of the specialist nature of BTP, the anonymous author’s claim that “the case for running two separate forces in parallel, for the benefit of only our railways, does not stand up any longer” is patently untrue. Under the previous policing structure of eight forces, local scrutiny and accountability was provided by police authorities and serious wrongdoing was subject to robust examination by an outside force.
If the SNP’s desire to have complete control of policing in Scotland is satisfied by the airbrushing of BTP from the Scottish civic landscape, then the last possible avenue for disinterested scrutiny of police matters in Scotland will disappear.
John Gordon
North Street
Glenrothes