Dim Blue Line: Scotland's Fading Police Force

Dim Blue Line is a stark, unflinching investigation into the decline of Police Scotland-a force once built on principles of local trust, professionalism, and visibility, now struggling under the weight of centralisation, disillusionment, and diminished public confidence.

The book begins by exploring how Police Scotland, born from the merger of eight regional forces in 2013, was designed to streamline operations and modernise policing. Instead, it created a top-heavy, reactive institution disconnected from the communities it serves.

Chapter by chapter, Dim Blue Line lays out the evidence of institutional drift:

• Recruitment standards have fallen, with entry requirements relaxed amid plummeting application numbers. Many new officers leave within two years, citing poor training, low morale, and lack of support.

• Leadership has faltered, marked by scandal, poor oversight, and a command culture that suppresses dissent and stifles innovation. Strategic direction is muddled, and operational decisions are too often reactive or politically driven.

• Despite official claims that "crime is falling," detection rates are collapsing, and the rise of complex, less visible crimes-cybercrime, coercive control, sexual offences-has outpaced police capacity. Many victims are no longer reporting crimes, believing nothing will be done.

• Experienced officers are leaving in record numbers, taking with them vital institutional knowledge and investigative skill. What's left is a growing skills vacuum, managed by overworked and under-resourced teams.

• Local policing has eroded, especially in rural and island communities. The failed 2023 shift pattern trial in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, is presented as a cautionary tale of top-down policy making detached from community needs, resulting in poorer service and public frustration.

• Public trust, once rooted in familiarity and consistent local presence, is fading. Communities no longer recognise-or in many cases even see-their local officers. A force that once operated "with the people" now often appears to act "upon them."

The final chapters of the book confront the question: is Police Scotland beyond saving?

While the problems are deep-cultural, operational, and political-the book does not argue for abandonment but for radical reform. It calls for a reimagined force that is:

• Locally accountable and community-embedded

• Strategically focused and transparently led

• Selective and rigorous in recruitment and training

• Supported by political honesty rather than denial

Dim Blue Line concludes with a warning: if trust is not restored, and if purpose is not clarified, Scotland risks not just losing faith in its police-but in the very idea that the state can protect and serve fairly.

Yet the book also ends with a note of possibility. The "dim" blue line is not extinguished. Whether it fades entirely or is reignited depends on the choices made now-by officers, leaders, politicians, and citizens alike.