I will follow on from the point that Mike Russell raised and from the discussion that we had with Police Scotland when it appeared before the committee some weeks ago. Your report suggests that little more than modest reform is required in the water bailiff system. I take your point about powers, accountability, scrutiny, complaints systems and so on.
My first two years in Lewis were spent in Stornoway jail; I hasten to add that that was because the council gave me an office there when I first went to Lewis to work. One of the things that I witnessed there was the police burning salmon nets that they had lifted from the shore and confiscated.
There are two sides to all these things. For example, evidence has been given to me of water bailiffs up in Caithness cutting the leader ropes of nets that were left in the water. The netsmen would claim that the nets were left in the water because it was too dangerous for them to go in and lift them. However, the water bailiffs went in and cut the ropes, which let the nets drift. Should they not have lifted those nets? There could have been fish in the nets already and the nets could catch other fish, but in any case they will kill fish. The nets could also get caught in the propellers of boats, which could lead to dangerous situations. If it was safe enough for the nets to be lifted, why did the bailiffs not lift them, take them ashore and dispose of them rather than just cut the leader ropes?
That was an example of bailiffs using current powers. Police Scotland told us that most of the time bailiffs do not use their current powers. If that is right—and I have no reason to doubt it—why leave bailiffs with powers that allow them to do things such as I described? It is tantamount to allowing police officers to stop someone while they are driving, find their car unroadworthy, take the wheels off the car and leave it at the edge of the road. That would be similar to what the bailiffs did in my example, which I believe that they did quite legally.
There is an issue around that, which we need to look at. We need to tighten up on accountability, scrutiny and complaints systems, but we also need to look at the specific powers that are given to bailiffs. Do the witnesses have any comments on what I have said?