Police Scotland's new chief constable wants to "build a more empowered and devolved organisation" to address local issues across the country.
Iain Livingstone believes the single force formed in 2013 valued consistency and compliance over local diversity in its early years.
He also said the force needs to adapt to take account of changes in society, particularly around technology and cyber crime.
In an interview with BBC Scotland he said: "I think we can deal with the multitude of demand. I don't think that we would have been able to had we not gone through the process of reform.
"We do need to have a capability to deal with international terrorism and we also need to be very close to our local communities.
"I think on my own personal reflection that in the early years we did value consistency, we did value compliance perhaps over local diversity.
"I think we recognise that and I want to build a more empowered and devolved organisation and I intend to do that."
Mr Livingstone was confirmed as chief constable on Wednesday after months as the acting leader of the force.
He stepped in last autumn when former chief constable Phil Gormley was suspended during an investigation into gross misconduct allegations, which he denied, before quitting.
Other senior officers have been subject on investigations but when he was asked if there was a cultural problem with bullying and misogyny in Police Scotland, Mr Livingstone said: "I don't think there are at all. I think that misrepresents policing in a very unfair manner.
"We've just recently appointed five chief officers to the new team, three of them are women, but other than gender they have nothing else in common, they themselves are very diverse.
"Policing in Scotland is utterly committed to public service. It has a culture of service, of duty, and those are the strengths I want to build upon.
He added: "I want to continue to encourage the support for whistleblowing, I want to continue to encourage people to raise things, to speak openly.
"I am open, I am listening and I want all the leaders in Police Scotland - and that is every single man and woman who serves, whether they are a police officer or member of police staff - to conduct themselves with dignity.
"If there are concerns I'll taken them extremely seriously and deal with them."
Mr Livingstone, who was a solicitor before joining Lothian and Borders Police
in 1992, will officially take up his new post on August 27 after topping a shortlist of candidates from across UK forces interviewed by the Scottish Police Authority.
His annual salary for the four-year fixed term post is £216,549.
Mr Livingstone was in interim charge of Police Scotland during Donald Trump's visit to Turnberry in July and said he will make sure the costs of the large-scale security operation are met by the UK Government.
He told BBC Scotland: "We're still totting up all the costs and all the consequences but we'll do that and we will absolutely be making sure we get the recompense that should be provided."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel