Letter from the editor: Five years on are things better with Police Scotland?

We have high expectations for our police service. Sadly, since Police Scotland was set up its failings have cast a shadow over all the good work its rank and file carry out 24/7.

As is so often the case in all walks of life, people remember every slip up but forget the solid, dependable performance from the majority of employees.

The recent raft of complaints against senior officers, going right to the top and involving Chief Constable Phil Gormley as well as members of his command team, have left a bad taste.

Families locally are still waiting for answers after their loved ones lay undiscovered and later died from injuries after their car left the M8.

And this is only one of a list of ongoing investigations by the police watchdog into how the force responds to incidents.

Private and public bodies are constantly streamlining their operations but as many have found it is not always for the better.

While there are benefits in sharing experience, as those in charge of our police service constantly remind us, there is also the danger of losing local knowledge.

We are told that the number of reported crimes are down and hopefully this is not because people are choosing not to report incidents.

Has a unified police service brought improvements from what we had before? I think the jury is still out.