The chief constable is answerable to the Scottish Police Authority, and the force is inspected by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland.

In regard to the Metropolitan Police this is due to their national responsibilities for the protection of the Royal Family and other prominent persons, such as the prime minister, and for counter-terrorism.

"[12] The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill was published in January 2012[13] and was approved on 27 June 2012 after scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament.

[16] As the date of formation approached, it was widely reported that the new chief constable and the Scottish Police Authority were in disagreement over the control of backroom staff.

[25] In October 2013, it was announced that the number of police control rooms and call handling service centres in Scotland was under review, with the possibility of seven out of ten such offices closing.

[29] The facilities in Glenrothes and Stirling soon followed, with all their calls and dispatching moved to a single site for the east of Scotland at Bilston, Midlothian.

[30] Closures in Aberdeen and Inverness (with control functionality moving to Dundee and call handling across the three sites in the Central Belt) were delayed until 2017[31] as a result of a Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) review of the service, following a July 2015 incident in which two persons died after their vehicle had crashed off the M9 motorway;[32] the matter had been reported to the police just after the crash but was not investigated further at the time as the call was not properly logged onto the computer systems due to inefficient interim procedures in place following the recent restructuring in the eastern region.

[33] The Aberdeen control room and service centre closed in March 2017,[34][35] and Inverness followed in February 2018,[36] with staff at the latter location invited to re-train in a dedicated unit performing criminal record checks and other enquiries via the Police National Computer and related databases;[36][37] this unit was to share work with an existing department in Govan, a proposal which local council leaders claimed was not what was originally presented to them during the consultation process.

[48] Officers from Border Policing Command operate in the major airports in Scotland and undertake examinations and searches of passengers under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Although each MIT will be responsible for investigating cases within its own area, where required they will be able to be deployed anywhere in the country to respond to need and demand.

Instead investigating serious and fatal RTCs lies with specially trained officers who carry out the role beside their core road patrol functions.

Six operational support units (OSUs) have been established to provide specially skilled officers trained in over ground search, public order and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response.

[57][53] Former Chief Constable Sir Stephen House's founding policy decision was that ARV officers would be granted a standing authority to overtly carry their sidearm and, in addition, controversially allowed ARV's to be able to respond to routine incidents (non-firearms incidents) "to provide support to local policing through regular and tasked patrols".

[61] RPAS became operational in May 2019 at Aberdeen and Inverness due to the high amounts of search for persons incidents in the Grampian and Highlands Regions.

The RPAS unit is primarily used in urban areas at events as well as missing person searches, road traffic collisions (RTCs) and post incident investigations.

[61] The majority of calls the helicopter is tasked with are missing persons incidents, however it also supports the likes of vehicle pursuits, command and control for events as well as mutual aid for other police services.

[52] The dive and marine unit supports several kinds of operations such as missing persons, counter terrorism, evidence recovery event patrols, etc utilising a range of vehicles and equipment.

The boat can reach up to 50 knots with a range of 400 nautical miles and is based on the River Clyde in order to provide extra support to marine incidents.

[72] Special constables undertake a standardised comprehensive training program which normally runs over a course of at least eight weekends with one full week spent at Scottish Police College in Tulliallan.

[75] There are growing concerns from some over the future prospects of Police Scotland's Special Constabulary if the number of SCs within the organisation continues to decline at the current rate.

[77] The number of Special Constables dropped further still, with the reported figure being 422 in 2022, this led to the matter being discussed by the then Justice Secretary Keith Brown in the Scottish Parliament.

[89] These caps are black with Sillitoe tartan flashes on both sides with "POLICE" stitched in white at the front and have previously been worn by specialist officers, such as the firearms unit and dog handlers.

In February 2022, it was announced that frontline officers would also be issued with Naloxone spray which can be used to provide emergency treatment for drug overdoses.

[95] In February 2013 it was reported that the previously-announced logo for Police Scotland could not be used as the force had failed to seek approval from the Court of the Lord Lyon.

[96] This new symbol, a stylised thistle upon a Scottish saltire shield, failed to meet the longstanding heraldic rules of the Lyon Court and was thus discarded.

A permanent logo was not approved in time for the creation of Police Scotland, but the pre-2013 crowned thistle emblem was reintroduced in July 2013.

Each force then generally had its own distinctive cap badge, usually featuring the coat of arms of the city, burgh or county which it covered.

The badge is today worn by all officers of Police Scotland; in metal for constables and sergeants, and embroidered for the rank of inspector and above.

[103][104] However, the proposal has received criticism due to the potential impact on BTP and its viability across the rest of Britain,[105] and the highly specialist nature of railway policing.

Concerns over privacy sparked a Scottish Parliament inquiry and prompted human rights groups to query the legal basis that allows officers to seize and analyse phones.