Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary Primary Inspection 2002
Annex C HMIC Inspections of the Policing of Kamp Van Zeist
On the evening of 21 December 1988 Pan America World Airways Boeing 747 Jumbo jet was destroyed by an explosion over the town of Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire. Two hundred and seventy people were murdered in the attack resulting in the largest criminal investigation in the United Kingdom. The investigation subsequently led to the issue of petition warrants in 1991 and following diplomatic negotiations, the extradition of two Libyan suspects to Kamp Van Zeist on 5 April 1999. At Kamp Van Zeist a Scottish court was created from an agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands allowing the granting of The High Court of Justiciary (Proceedings in the Netherlands)(United Nations) Order 1998. In January 2001 one of the defendants, Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted of murder. Having failed with an appeal in March 2002 he was transferred to HM Prison Barlinnie. This will lead to the winding down of the Kamp Van Zeist operation and allow the force the opportunity of redeploying the personnel to duties within the force.
The policing of Kamp Van Zeist quickly evolved into a complex operation conducted in partnership with other stakeholder agencies. The force was able to staff the operation through mutual aid while still maintaining a corporate identity at the site. The operation was regularly subjected to review using the "Best Value" framework involving other stakeholders including the Scottish Court Service and the Scottish Prison Service. In total three reviews were conducted by the force resulting in a formal operational requirement of the tasks to be performed and the standard applicable, a review of staff numbers, performance targets and recommendations as to physical security. The operation has been a major drain on the resources of the Scottish Police Service and Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary in particular. The force has invested experienced officers of all ranks in policing the operation and has been forced to backfill with acting ranks.
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Mr William Taylor conducted an inspection of the policing arrangements of the Scottish court at Kamp Van Zeist in the Netherlands during November and December 2000. This was the second inspection of the policing arrangements, the first being in April 1999. The purpose of the formal Inspection was to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of police officers and a police operation based and taking place mostly outwith the U.K. HMIC also examined the progress in response to the seven recommendations and general comments made following the 1999 inspection.
Recommendations April 1999
Following the HMIC 1999 Review, HMIC made recommendations in a number of areas including:
- Establishing terms of reference for the policing operation in the Netherlands at the earliest opportunity.
- Preparing a revised policing plan consistent with the level of threat assessment.
- Ensuring that while there is significant deployment of armed officers command on site should not fall below Superintendent level and secure communication should be made available for the site commanders to have immediate access to a designated officer of ACPOS rank.
- Establishing a firm cost control mechanism involving regular monitoring, specific targets and the challenging of any overspends.
- Ensuring that the site commander be supported by police officers or support staff competent in the Dutch language.
- Addressing the issue of civil and other liabilities in respect of the police operation in the Netherlands.
The force addressed all of these recommendations promptly and they were all discharged by the time of the second inspection.
Recommendations December 2000
Following the December 2000 inspection, HMIC recommends that:
- The force consider enhancing security of the armoury buildings by providing CCTV coverage of the area.
- The force monitor the effectiveness of the briefing process to ensure that staff commence duty at KVZ fully capable of understanding and carrying out their job in a professional and confident way.
- The Chief Constable negotiate with the Registrar the provision of suitable radio and telephone audio recording equipment and thereafter introduce a robust policy for its use.
The force quickly discharged all of these recommendations.