ABSTRACT
The policing of Scotland, like the policing of any territory with its own political and cultural identity, consists of a distinctive but broadly familiar set of social practices informed by a distinctive but broadly familiar pattern of historical development. In any socio-political order, the state, private elites and wider civil society each have their own culturally specific characteristics, and the overall balance of power and influence between them is struck in a manner which has implications for the organisation of the public sphere and for public policy generally. In as much as the early Acts were genuine harbingers of the new police, a second strand of explanation has to do with the peculiar pattern of economic growth in Scotland. The development of nineteenth century policing also reflects the struggle between different groups over control of the state. A final important thrust in the drive towards a uniform model of policing was gradual consolidation of forces into larger and larger units.
