Status of all recommendations

Scottish Government in consultation with criminal justice partners and key stakeholders should consider development of national policy on risk factors that assess not only the eligibility of an offender for release on home detention curfew but his / her suitability for release based on the presumption of refusal where the conviction that the person has been sentences for relates to violence, possession of an offensive weapon or having known links to serious organised crime.

Scottish Government in consultation with criminal justice partners and key stakeholders should consider introducing a statutory offence where an offender who breaches his/her home detention curfew licence conditions remains 'unlawfully at large' for a designated period of time.

Police Scotland should ensure a robust process is established in each local policing area where all enquiries carried out police officers and members of police staff are accurately recorded in a clear and appropriately evidenced manner that is available for internal audit and external scrutiny purposes. This would comply with the existing standard operating procedures.

Police Scotland should ensure a robust process is established in each policing area where local supervisors allocate home detention curfew revocation notices without undue delay and in any case within 48 hours and that the progress of enquiries is regularly monitored and reviewed ensuring that professional standard of enquiry is completed timeously and within relevant timescales. This would comply with existing standard operating procedures.

Police Scotland should ensure a robust process is established in each local policing area where the local senior management team is provided with a status report in relation to offenders deemed 'unlawfully at large' and a means to escalate rated offenders to the local tasking and delivery board for further action.

Police Scotland should support Divisional Commanders to carry out an internal self-assessment of a process of continuous improvement against each of the listed recommendations to ensure that there are robust local procedures and safeguards in place in relation to locating and apprehending offenders who have breached their home detention curfew licence conditions and are deemed to be 'unlawfully at large'.

Police Scotland should align the enquiry timescales outlined in the electronic monitoring of offenders standard operating procedures and the warrants standard operating procedures to ensure consistency of guidance.