SOME FLAK FROM A POLICE MUM

constantly changing shift patterns and “never-ending paperwork”.

The woman added: “She didn’t think the job would be a walk in the park, she was well aware of what she was taking on, and I feel she’s been very let down.

“She’s not complaining but I am angry because, Mr Matheson, I’m a member of the SNP.

“This isn’t a Tory government in Scotland, this isn’t a Labour government in Scotland, this is my party in Scotland and you are letting down your officers.

“What, Mr Matheson, would you say to my daughter who must be feeling let down, what would you say to her and to the other officers that are on the edge of nervous breakdowns? I’m not exaggerating.”

Matheson had a private chat with the woman after the fringe meeting, who left shaking her head.

Earlier, SPF boss Calum Steele warned Police Scotland were becoming a “response only” service.

He said: “If you look at our police service just now, you will find a large percentage of officers who are downtrodden, they are tired, they are exhausted, they are fatigued, they feel unloved and it is difficult to genuinely say that that’s the kind of police service the country needs but it’s also not the kind of police service that they themselves need to be working in.”

Steele also read out an email from an unnamed officer in Matheson’s Falkirk constituency.

The officer claimed corners are being cut and warned vehicles are a disgrace – “some of them are barely road legal”, he added.

Matheson said: “With the creation of a single force, one of the areas which has not been adequately addressed is the issue of the wellbeing of our police officers and their needs and to recognise that the service needs to address these issues that they have as a matter of concern.

“I’m conscious that the service have put a lot of work into that to try to address these issues but there is clearly significantly more the service needs to take forward in order to address these matters.”

He said the Government had protected the police budget “to make sure we can try to provide as much resource as we can during a period of austerity”.

Matheson added: “That does not resolve all the financial pressures and challenges but we are trying our best to try to meet that demand where we can financially.”

Labour justice spokeswoman Claire Baker said: “When even SNP members are challenging the justice minister over his record, you know things are desperate.”