The clampdown has been welcomed by the Wick family who have been at loggerheads with the police following the suspicious death of Kevin McLeod more than 11 years ago.

The McLeods are continuing to press for a fresh investigation into the circumstances in which 24-year-old Kevin lost his life in Wick harbour in February 1997.

The family have also been pressing the Scottish Government to close the loophole which has allowed officers to quit without misconduct allegations against them being fully investigated.

While happy with a new commitment to change the guidelines, the family want to stop police officers retiring with their pension while facing possible disciplinary measures. The family's campaign received a boost when their plea was backed by Scottish Police Complaints Commissioner Jim Martin. It was one of the recommendations he made in his findings published last year into how Northern Constabulary had handled complaints about the force's investigations into Kevin's death.

Civil servant Daniel Jack has told the family that progress is being made to change regulations relating to officers who leave the force whilst under investigation.

He states: "Our understanding is that, where an officer intimates that he or she wishes to resign or retire, nothing can be done to stop that officer from taking that action.

"Taking that as our starting point, we are now actively looking at what measures could be put in place by forces to ensure that any investigations which are under way at the time that an officer leaves the service are brought to their logical conclusion and the outcomes of that investigation are made available."

Mr Jack, of the Police and Community Safety Directorate, is liaising with Mr Martin on what steps need to be taken to ensure investigations are not aborted by officers leaving the force.

Mr Jack said the recommendation would be fed into the police advisory board, which is currently seeking to update a range of police regulations.

Allan McLeod, Kevin's uncle, has given a qualified welcome to Mr Jack's proposal.

He said: "It is a massive step in the right direction but still does not go far enough towards achieving what the family believe must be implemented."

Mr McLeod believes pensions and other financial benefits should be frozen until the end of the disciplinary proceedings.

He said: "All too often, police officers who have been involved in high-profile cases have been able to escape the same penalties that other workers face when they are found to have made serious mistakes.

"Officers are allowed to leave their job without being held accountable for their actions, with their pensions and reputations intact. This loophole is totally unacceptable and badly undermines confidence in the police and judicial process."

The McLeods raised the issue after disciplinary proceedings against the then deputy chief constable, Keith Cullen, were halted when he retired in February 2003. Mr Cullen was facing a misconduct probe in his role as the officer responsible for the force's handling of the family's complaints.

In its response to Mr Martin's report, Northern Constabulary claimed it had since substantially overhauled its procedures for dealing with complaints against individual officers.

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