THE police scotland is “institutionally racist” and operates with “discriminatory” practices, its leader, Mr Ian Livingstonefollowing a report into the operation of Police Scotland which was made public.

This stark admission from Scotland’s top police officer comes as other police services, including London’s, have also faced similar allegations in recent years.

An independent investigation by the SPA (Scottish Police Authority), which oversees police work, released yesterday, found racist, misogynistic and homophobic actions or expressions by officers.

“My duty as chief of police is to state clearly that there is institutionalized racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination,” Livingstone said.

Police Scotland has been under public scrutiny since the 2015 death of Sekou Bayoch, a 31-year-old black man who died during the arrest of six police officers in the town of Kirkcaldy, north of Edinburgh.

In early May, several former police officers denounced a culture of machismo at all levels of the police force.

The SPA report also notes growing concern within police ranks about these practices.

“We have heard of people being punished for raising issues or concerns, such as by being banned from groups,” the report points out.

In March, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for a “top-to-bottom” reform of London’s Metropolitan Police after similar incidents were revealed in a report drawn up in 2021 following the killing of a young woman by police officer Wayne Cousins . The latter was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Since then, another police officer, David Carrick, has also been jailed for life for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults, further widening the trust deficit Britons have in their police.

Already in 1999, the London police had been accused of racism for the way they conducted their investigation into the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, in 1993.