Police Scotland's senior leadership is being described by insiders as riven with infighting, with a series of overlapping disputes among top officers undermining confidence in the force. The turmoil includes a bullying investigation into Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors, a sexual harassment tribunal claim against Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs, and a watchdog report criticising chiefs for falling short of professional standards, all of which have drawn accusations that Chief Constable Jo Farrell's leadership has lost the confidence of colleagues.

Connors, redeployed to a London-based national policing role while remaining on the Police Scotland payroll, is preparing a judicial review after her suspension was lifted following legal threats; her lawyers argue the investigation, begun in December, was unlawful. Speirs faces a tribunal over harassment allegations and is separately accused of telling a chief superintendent he would not be promoted for being "too white, too male, too middle-aged". A HMICS report finding failures to report senior officer wrongdoing to the Scottish Police Authority was delayed by Farrell until after May's Holyrood election, prompting criticism from the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents and a confrontation in which Assistant Chief Constable Wendy Middleton was reportedly branded "persona non grata". Justice Secretary Neil Gray voiced concern in June about inconsistent standards but has since said little publicly.