SPF Members are members of the European Confederation of Police (EuroCOP) an umbrella organisation for 30 police unions and staff organisations in Europe.
Based in Luxembourg, EUROCOP represents the interests of over 230,000 police officers in 25 European countries today. The current President of EUROCOP is Calum Steele, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation.
EuroCOP is tackling issues ranging from police cooperation across borders to a safer working environment for police officers on the street. Although no longer part of the European Union, Scotland’s policing governance structures are more aligned to other European countries than American or even English models.
Scottish Police Federation (SPF) officials have already brought best practice from Scandinavia to Police Scotland, putting forward alternative approaches to vehicle procurement, firearms, safety equipment, uniform and wellbeing. We are exploring approaches to equality and diversity across the continent to see what we can learn from, and contribute to, other Forces. We recently undertook benchmarking of our fleet and equipment with other Forces across the continent and have been influencing policy on emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
One of EUROCOPs primary goals is ensuring that there are consistent standards of training and equipment across the continent. The importance of which has been underlined by the ongoing migrant crisis. With Borders along the the South and East of the continent seeing thousands of migrants crossing, it is important that a humane and human rights based approach is adopted. That first encounter with a European police officer can define all subsequent ones. What happens in Greece, Spain and Lithuania matters in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
The EUROCOP website with much more information can be found at eurocop.org