COPS: WE’LL COPE
Halloween, Bonfire Night and 200,000 protesters at global climate summit..
COPS are facing “the biggest and most complex event ever staged in Scotland” with COP26 coinciding with Bonfire Night and Halloween carnage, it was warned.
World leaders including US President Joe Biden, Pope Francis and the Queen will be at the SEC in Glasgow for the U.N climate conference next month.
But Police Scotland and other 999 crews face their biggest annual pressure on November 5, while Halloween revellers cause chaos.
Reinforcements of 10,000 officers are being brought in from the four nations to back up the stretched police force.
Chair of the Scottish Police Federation, David Hamilton, said: “We will do our best and do everything we can, but it is going to be tight for us.
“Police will start at the top of
the priority list and work their way down. Whilst we continue to push the service into ensuring that everything that can be done to prop up the service is done, the inconvenient truth is – there just aren’t enough police officers.” Vowing that the federation would do everything possible to “prop up” the force during the summit, Hamilton warned disruption on key dates in October and November would “stretch policing capacity to and beyond the absolute limit”. He said: “November 5 is an exceptional date for police demand in any ordinary year. “The last three years have been very challenging and we don’t expect it to be any different this year.
“A lot of work is getting done to support the frontline officers from back office posts as much as possible.”
The next day will see as many as 200,000 descend on Glasgow, to attend a UN-backed climate protest, which cops fear could be “hijacked”.
Police Scotland has been engaging with various groups, including Extinction Rebellion, to ensure that it goes smoothly.
More than 10,000 UK officers are expected to arrive in Glasgow in the days leading up to COP26, and around 2,500 Scottish officers are receiving extra training in how to manage large protests. The force has also cancelled all holiday leave for officers during the summit.