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Cllr Greig added: “There is an accountability deficit because the power has been taken away. We don’t have any powers in relation to policing whereas with the boards there was a strong involvement in police governance in partnership with ministers and local chief constables.
“That arrangement was scrapped with a new single force monitored by the SPA quango and under the direction of the Scottish ministers.”
A similar point was made by Cllr Joanna Mowat, a former joint board member and a current member of Edinburgh City Council’s fire and police committee.
“I think there is a feeling of a lack of accountability,” Mowat said. “People who had concerns flagged it up prior to the creation of the new force and unfortunately it has come to pass. The structure of the new service is such that many of the checks and balances of the old police boards have been removed.”
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