ABSTRACT
The motto of the Scottish police service – Semper Vigilo – implies a constant watchfulness for the safety and protection of Scottish society over the past 200 years of organised policing. During that time society has undergone significant change in all sorts of areas of people’s lives and the police service has sought to adapt to these changes while trying to maintain its constant basic functions and ultimate purposes. In this book we have traced these purposes, functions and changes in order to better understand the present nature and workings of Scotland’s police forces and organisations. The purpose of this chapter is to try to sum up the characteristics that have made Scottish policing what it is today and to suggest possible directions in which it might move in the future.
