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'I can't rule it out': Police chief admits possibility of 'another Wayne Couzens' in UK's second biggest force
13 May 2024, 06:49
A top police officer has told LBC that she can't rule out there being another Wayne Couzens within her ranks.
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Couzens was handed a whole life sentence in 2021 for abusing his powers as a then-Metropolitan Police Officer to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard.
And in her first interview with LBC since taking charge of Police Scotland in October, Jo Farrell was asked about the possibility of officers like him currently serving in what is the UK's second biggest force - and highlighted concerns about "corrupt officers" moving around "to evade capture".
She said: "I can't rule that out. (There's) 22,000 people.
"But we are committed to insuring that we maintain the highest standards.
"We vet people coming into the organisation. We expect a very high standard. And what I've seen in the last seven months is an increasing confidence and willingness for people to come forward and call out wrongdoing. That says to me they're confident they'll be believed and supported."
The convictions of both Couzens and David Carrick led to a nationwide check of all serving police officers in the UK.
Ms Farrell said that "didn't throw up anything of concern in Scotland" but didn't mean the force could afford to be "complacent".
"That check has been completed and gave us a really good bill of health.
"There were some follow-up points that we wanted to make but it didn't throw up anything of concern here in Scotland.
"But that's not to say that we are in anyway complacent because I can think of examples where corrupt officers have moved around the United Kingdom in some respects you might say to evade capture.
"So it's important that we defend as one, so that service as a whole we can ensure we have people of the highest integrity".
The Chief Constable also took questions on other matters, including the investigation into the funding and finances of the SNP.
She said there was "no conspiracy" around Operation Branchform, which last month saw former Chief Executive Peter Murrell charged in connection with embezzlement of funds from the party.
Police officer: 'Special place in hell' for Carrick and Couzens
"In relation to the man that has been charged. I anticipate that in a matter of weeks the report will be submitted to the Crown.
"Policing is completely independent of politics. I'm really clear of my policing independence and I have every confidence that the teams that are investigating those allegations will do so objectively."
And Ms Farrell also spoke about enforcing new hate crime legislation which came into force in Scotland last month.
She said inaccurate claims shared on social media by high profile characters like Elon Musk - who reposted suggestions to his 180 million X followers that comedians were going to be targeted by police - had fueled "a frenzy".
"People thought it was appropriate to almost create this fear that suddenly policing was going to crackdown on free speech.
"That is not something Police Scotland would do.
"No doubt there was a frenzy created around it. And in those first weeks we were then dealing with the impact of that".
