Jo Farrell said she expected more accusations of violence towards women by serving police officers would come to light

Police Scotland has said 45 serving officers are currently suspended over allegations of violence against women and girls.

Chief constable Jo Farrell said she expected more would face sanctions over their behaviour following a spate of former officers being convicted for sexual offences.

Farrell said a review into the handling of the case surrounding officer Alan Greer – who was exposed as a serial rapist after taking his own life – was under way.

She added about 8,000 members of staff were still to be "re-vetted" for their roles after a change in regulations earlier this year.

First minister John Swinney said he had "full confidence" in Police Scotland and the renewed vetting process.

In an interview with BBC Scotland News, Farrell described the scale of violence against women and girls in Scotland as an "epidemic", and that police forces were not immune to the problem.

She said: "We've got in the order of between currently 40 and 50 people currently suspended, so not at work, who are being investigated for offences that relate to violence against women and girls.

Farrell said women should be confident to come forward and report offending by police officers

Police Scotland later clarified 45 officers were under suspension over allegations of violence against women and girls.

Not all are currently part of a criminal investigation, the force said.

A BBC Disclosure investigation in July revealed that Greer had repeatedly attacked and attempted to murder women over a 14-year period.

Further inquiries uncovered that Greer had passed vetting checks to join what was then Strathclyde Police in 2009, despite having two reports of criminal behaviour against women on his record.

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Farrell said the scope of the review into Greer, parts of which would be made public, would identify whether gaps in the vetting process contributed to his offending being allowed to continue.

"It is an ongoing investigation, but it is also subject to an independent review to find out whether there were any opportunities to identify his offending earlier and whether there is any learning from that," she told BBC Scotland.

"What is important is that we get that independent review, that colleagues elsewhere in the United Kingdom are looking at that case to identify whether there were any opportunities that were missed."

Greer is one of three former officers in Scotland to be exposed as rapists this year.

In July, Cameron Ross was jailed for 10 years after he was found guilty of raping two women and threatening to kill another in Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, and in Inverness over a 10-year period.

Ross, 39, has since launched an appeal against both his conviction and his sentence.

Last month, former police sergeant Campbell Petrie, 50, was found guilty of a series of sex attacks on women between 2006 and 2023.

Petrie - who was first arrested following a complaint by one of his victims 17 years ago – was convicted of two counts of rape and a number of other charges including physical and sexual abuse towards two women in Glasgow.

He was suspended by Police Scotland after being charged with the offences in December 2023 but retired from the force two years later.

Another officer, Jay Skivington, 24, was sentenced in October to 160 hours of unpaid work and given five-year non-harassment order for violent offences against a woman.

About 8,000 Police Scotland staff, including 6,000 officers, are due to be re-vetted after procedures were tightened

Farrell said that between 300 and 400 officers had now been re-vetted as part of new rules brought in following the murder of Sarah Everard by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens.

About 6,000 officers and 2,000 civilian staff still have to go through the new vetting process.

She said the rules would make it easier to "exit people" found to be unsuitable to serve in the force.

"It's only now during this year there has been a change in the vetting regime. So for the first time, if an officer fails their vetting, they can be exited from policing," she said.

"So that is a very recent change, and a welcome change from my point of view. Up until that point there were no opportunities to exit people from the organisation."

Farrell added: "My focus is on identifying where there is wrongdoing, criminality, particularly in relation to violence against women and girls and if that has been committed by our officers and our staff, that we identify it and we ensure that those people feel the full force of the law."

Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said incidents involving officers were taken "very seriously" when reported to Police Scotland.

He said: "We've done work over the last number of years on vetting and police conduct on a number of areas that have highlighted where Police Scotland can improve and they are making improvements in those areas.

"However, police officers are members of society and our society has violent offenders within it so they are likely to be further offenders within Scotland within policing."

Naylor added: "For me, what we've seen with the recent incidents with Mr Greer, with Constable Petrie recently, have shown that when something is reported to Police Scotland they take it very seriously, they put their best resources onto it, they investigate it and they get convictions."

David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said he was concerned about the reputational damage such a number of allegations could do to the force.

He said he did not believe there was a cultural problem in the ranks of Police Scotland and said there was a wider societal issue with violence against women.

He added vetting of potential police recruits needed to be stronger and called for more funding for the system to allow current vetting to include home visits, deeper reference interviews and psychometric testing.

Kennedy said: "You're always worried about reputation as a police officer. When Wayne Couzens was identified the reputation of police across the UK was horrendous.

"But that is just a very small part of policing. The public should feel trusting and safe with police officers."

David Kennedy said he did not believe Police Scotland had a "cultural problem" with violence against women but it was part of a wider societal issue

Swinney said he had made tackling violence against women and girls a "fundamental priority".

He said: "It's absolutely crucial that the public can be assured about the conduct and the approach of police officers, that's why the vetting that we have put in place by statute to ensure this work is carried out will be carried out so the public can have that assurance.

"I've got confidence in the vetting process that Police Scotland are going through to make sure that the levels of public confidence that we all should rely upon can be assured to members of the public."

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