Shaping policing practice and informing scrutiny during Covid-19 in Scotland

Author: Professor Susan McVie

Date: June 2025

Research summary

Collaboration between researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Police Scotland during Covid-19 led to novel research using shared police data. The findings supported operational planning, informed formal scrutiny of policing in Scotland, evidenced hidden inequalities, and contributed to decision-making around future pandemic preparedness and policy.

Research origins: Policing the pandemic in Scotland

This collaboration began in April 2020, when UK police forces were given emergency powers to support efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19. As part of the UK-wide Operation Talla police response, the Scottish Police Authority established an Independent Advisory Group (IAG) to scrutinise police use of the new powers.

The group met regularly to monitor the key challenges for Police Scotland. This was supported by the Operation Talla Information Collation, Assurance and Liaison (OpTICAL) Group, established and led by Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie. The OpTICAL Group played a key role in monitoring, collecting, and disseminating evidence and data in support of the IAG.

Embedded academic leadership on data analysis and linkage

Professor Susan McVie, currently the Research Lead for ADR Scotland’s Community Safety, Equality and Wellbeing research programme, was appointed to the IAG and the OpTICAL Group based on existing trusted relationships and a long track record in police-related research. For two years, she provided academic leadership in analysing data, producing briefing papers, and publishing a series of data reports on police use of the powers.

This included reports on enforcement activity in Scotland, which were used at an operational level to inform senior leaders about variation in enforcement and highlight any issues relating to variation in policing practice. Her research also offered insights to leading police scrutiny bodies (the Scottish Police Authority and the National Police Chiefs Council) about the proportionality of policing practices.

During the course of her engagement with Police Scotland, officers raised concerns about the rate at which health vulnerabilities – including mental ill-health and substance use – were preventing some people from complying with Covid-19 health regulations. With Police Scotland’s support, Professor McVie developed a novel study, linking police and health data for the first time in Scotland, to examine the association between health vulnerabilities and police use of enforcement.

Research findings

This research produced valuable insights about policing in Scotland during Covid-19. The “4Es” approach to enforcement adopted by Police Scotland – focusing mainly on engagement, explanation, and encouragement, rather than enforcement – was successful in reducing the rate of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued. Nevertheless, over 20,000 FPNs were issued in Scotland for breaches of the Covid-19 regulations.

The research showed that certain groups were more likely to be fined than others, including men, younger people, those with prior police contact, and people living in areas of high deprivation. This suggested that some groups may have been less able or willing to comply with the regulations, creating challenges for frontline policing.

The data linkage study also demonstrated that people who received an FPN in Scotland were more likely, than a matched group from the general population, to have accessed health services for mental ill-health or substance use in the year prior to, or during, the pandemic. This association was especially strong for those fined during the first lockdown.

The likelihood of receiving a fine was particularly high among those with multiple health conditions and among those with health conditions that existed prior to the pandemic. The findings suggest that the new policing powers introduced under public health regulations disproportionately impacted people experiencing mental illness and/or addictions, pointing to a previously unidentified form of inequality that was exacerbated by the pandemic.

Research impact

The research findings were used by the OpTICAL Group to support operational planning by Police Scotland during the early stages of the pandemic. They were also used by the IAG on an ongoing basis to assure the Scottish Police Authority that policing practice aligned with human rights principles and Police Scotland’s values of fairness, integrity, and respect.

Since the end of the pandemic, the research has fed into a range of Covid-19 inquiries and contributed to future pandemic preparedness planning.

In January 2024, Professor McVie provided written and oral evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.  Her evidence highlighted the disproportionate impact of government decision-making around policing powers on certain groups and its consequences for increasing inequalities. This evidence is expected to contribute to recommendations ensuring that future government decisions are supported by equalities impact assessments.

Copies of published papers have also been submitted to the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry.

Professor McVie’s team also provided oral and written evidence for a report by the Independent Commission on UK Public Health Emergency Powers, published in May 2024. The research directly contributed to several of the Commission’s recommendations for future public health legislation and the role of the police in the UK. These included:

• The government should clearly explain the rationale and justification for a police enforcement approach
• Governments should consult more closely with police on whether laws are enforceable
• A formal warning system should be considered as a first-stage alternative to issuing FPNs
• Excessively high FPNs should not be issued unless proportionate to the level of risk and approved by a senior officer
• Contingency planning should involve collaboration with public health officials and police to develop training on enforcing public health restrictions.

The research is being considered by the Ministry of Justice (for England and Wales) and the Northern Ireland Department of Health in relation to pandemic preparedness and the development of new health protection legislative frameworks.

The data analysis has also been cited in several policy documents, including a UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights publication and a Scottish Parliament Justice Sub-Committee on Policing report, providing key evidence on live policing practices during the pandemic.

Ongoing collaboration beyond the pandemic

The academic partnership with Police Scotland has been strengthened beyond the pandemic through an ongoing research collaboration focused on mental health and policing. In 2021, Police Scotland and Public Health Scotland signed a formal collaboration agreement to address public health and wellbeing across Scotland.

In 2022, the Scottish Prevention Hub was established to embed a public health approach into primary prevention work within policing. Professor McVie joined the Prevention Hub Leadership Group in 2023 and has played a key role in developing new data linkage research using Police Scotland’s Vulnerable Persons Database.

Work is ongoing to identify other strategic areas that can be addressed through analysis and linkage of health and policing data.

Research outputs

Find all reports and information on the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR)’s website.

This project was funded as part of UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response to Covid-19 (UKRI/ESRC Grant Reference: ES/W001845/1) and Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR) ESRC grant ES/W010321/1 (University of Edinburgh 2022–2026 ADR UK Programme).