Monday June 29th 2026
PC Scott McCulloch
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Councillors have congratulated a West Lothian constable who has been named Police Officer of the Year.
Constable Scott McCulloch has developed and delivered a powerful message focused on tackling domestic abuse in a lesson pack which he has delivered to senior pupils across the county.
More than 4,000 senior pupils have taken part in the teaching sessions learning about domestic abuse in the last year.
PC McCulloch has also delivered a talk on the programme to a meeting of the full council.
Chair of the Public and Community Safety Committee, Councillor Craig Meek said: “Well done to PC McCulloch in receiving this award. Any form of domestic abuse is not acceptable and it is great to see the work that the police and partners are doing.”
Livingston south Councillor Maria MacAulay told a meeting of the Public and Community Safety PDSP: “Absolutely. Pass on my congratulations to PC McCulloch. It’s an incredible achievement. It is making a difference.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service first highlighted last year PC McCulloch developed the programme after liaising with lead investigators in the Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit to ensure the delivery covered important aspects of investigations, what police do and why they do it.
The programme challenges behaviours within relationship settings to encourage all people, especially young men, to develop healthy relationships and understand what is acceptable within the boundaries of a relationship.
A report to the Public and Community Safety PDSP this week by the local police said: “we have seen an increase of 1.7% in domestic crimes being reported to police with over 60% of these incidents not resulting in a crime being recorded.
“This upward trend supports the assumption of increased confidence in seeking support and highlights the impact of the proactive engagement and prevention work the division is undertaking.
As a Local Area Command police in West Lothian have implemented a new approach regarding domestics, and as such there is better collaboration between policing teams and partner organisations. This has resulted in higher tariff offenders being remanded and the increase of 12.9% in the detection rate.
The report added: “Of note Scott McCulloch won Police Officer of the Year for his early prevention work regarding domestic abuse and this could be the reason for the 68.6% increase in group 2 offences as these figures include:- Communicating Indecently, Sexual Exposure, Voyeurism and Sexual Coercion, as it is noted that those reporting these offences are younger in age.”
Announcing the award Police Scotland said: “Livingston-based, Scott was recognised for his genuine commitment and support for those experiencing domestic abuse.
“Scott developed a powerful domestic abuse lesson-pack that focuses on prevention and education which he has personally delivered to more than 4,000 S4 to S6 pupils in West Lothian. Building on this success, he is now training officers in neighbouring divisions to allow them to bring this initiative to other parts of Scotland.”
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