Hundreds of officers have been accused of breaking Covid laws – by their own whistleblowing colleagues.
More than one cop every two days was accused of breaching lockdown rules at the height of the pandemic, new figures show.
Police Scotland said Operation Talla – the force’s codename for its response to the pandemic – identified allegations about 208 officers believed to have fallen foul of laws that limited house gatherings and introduced social distancing.
The cases included acting Sergeant Lara McAulay and her then fiance, PC Gordon Dunn, who were caught having a drinking session with friends and family at a party to celebrate a Rangers victory in the SPFL title race in January 2021.
Cops issued five fines during the rammy in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, which saw Dunn, 33, get so drunk he ended up committing a sectarian breach of the peace.
Top brass also launched a disciplinary probe on top of the prosecution, which saw the couple split up.
The 208 cases made up a total of 2743 cases concerning cops’ behaviour that Police Scotland’s in-house team looked at last year.
The force established new whistleblowing procedures amid controversy in 2017.
Investigators in its Professional Standards Gateway Unit were ordered to look at allegations of unethical, unprofessional and illegal behaviour.
New figures, presented to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), show how whistleblowing has nearly trebled since its creation.
In 2017-18 just 1175 claims were probed.
Meanwhile, one in five staff at the force’s watchdog said they don’t feel comfortable raising concerns about problem behaviour and corruption in an internal survey.
Critics have said the findings – part of a report by the SPA – shows policing still has a long way to go on the issue of whistleblowing.
Moi Ali, a former police watchdog member who quit the SPA in 2017 after she objected to plans to hold its board
meetings in private, said: “While it’s right that these figures show most SPA staff are confident in internal whistleblowing, the fact 20 per cent aren’t is very worrying.
“Police Scotland also has some way to go to make officers confident in speaking out.”
The survey, revealed in a report to the SPA’s audit, risk and assurance committee and carried out in March 2020, found 80 per cent either agreed or strongly agreed that they are comfortable raising a concern with their line manager, with eight per cent disagreeing.
It also found 68 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that they are comfortable raising a concern with someone else in the organisation but 20 per cent disagreed.
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “The purpose of the Covid restrictions and guidelines was to safeguard public health, protect the NHS and prevent the spread of the virus.
“No member of Police Scotland is above adhering to these restrictions.
“Whistleblowing is an important source of information that can highlight serious risks to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation.
“Other options exist for individuals to raise concerns outwith the formal whistleblowing process, including reporting to line managers or Professional Standards.”
The SPA declined to comment.
