The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is the collective organisation of Chief Constables, Deputy Chief Constables and Assistant Chief Constables from the eight Police forces in Scotland.
Formally a staff association, in 2006 it was incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee. In 2009 it gained charitable status thus saving thousands of pounds in VAT. ACPOS has evolved to the strategic body which oversees and co-ordinates all aspects of the direction and development of the Scottish Police Service as a whole. Senior support staff and superintending ranks are also involved in its business.
The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) is the professional voice of police leadership in Scotland. It works in partnership with central and local government to set strategic objectives for policing in Scotland and to deliver better integrated services for Scotland's communities. It comments upon police reform, publishes policies and campaigns on issues of importance. [1]
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Developments are overseen by the Council of Chief Constables beneath which are eight standing committees focusing on a particular aspect of the service namely:
The Scottish Constabulary crest was designed by Mr Cairns, Art Master at Dumfries Academy in the early 1930s at the request of the Chief Constables' (Scotland) Club to be a badge to be identifiable with the Scottish Police Service.
This came about at a time when there were significant numbers of mergers of police forces around Scotland and more were in the offing. The design therefore would be capable of being adopted as a standard hat badge by police officers around Scotland, thereby avoiding the expense of producing new hat badges whenever two or more police forces amalgamated. Each force generally had its own distinctive cap badge, usually featuring the coat of arms or insignia of the City, Burgh or County which it covered.
The design comprises a Scottish thistle in a wreath of thistle leaves, all on a scroll tablet with the Latin motto: Semper Vigilo (Always Alert), and surmounted by a royal Crown.
As originally designed the badge featured the Imperial Crown (Tudor Crown) but was not universally adopted until the regionalisation of the Scottish Police in 1975. The badge was then modernised and the Scottish Crown applied.
The badge is now worn by all Police officers in Scotland, in metal by Constables and Sergeants, and in an embroidered version by Inspector ranks and above. UK-wide police forces operating in Scotland, such as British Transport Police, however continue to wear their own force badge.
In 2000, John Reid, then the Secretary of State for Scotland in the British government, gave the following written answer to a question in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom: