COPS CALLED TO SHERIFF COURT 500 TIMES
Officers faced with an average of three calls per week
POLICE officers have been forced to attend calls at Glasgow Sheriff Court hundreds of times over the last three years.
More than 500 incidents were reported at the court between January 2016 and October this year – the highest of any court in Scotland.
POLICE have been called out to deal with incidents at Glasgow Sheriff Court more than 500 times in the last three years.
The figures show an average of three calls a week to Scotland’s busiest court.
The incidents include a range of offences including drug taking and assaults where police had to attend.
The court is responsible for almost one in four of all police calls to Scottish Courts between January 2016 and October this year.
Across Scotland’s 31 Sheriff courts and High Court buildings there were 2228 emergency calls.
The numbers range from one each in Banff, Stornoway and Tain courts to 575 in Glasgow.
At the High Court in Glasgow police attended on 69 occasions.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court there were 123 incidents requiring police intervention and 120 at Paisley Sheriff Court.
The data was obtained by the Scottish Conservatives under Freedom of Information.
Justice spokesman Liam Kerr, said: “This just shows the kind of pressure our sheriff courts system is under.
“They are constantly being asked to do more with less, and now it emerges these facilities are at the centre of hundreds of 999 calls each year.
“It underlines what a brave job people working at sheriff courts do, and the importance of the system more generally.
“The vast majority of these aren’t minor incidents, and put the safety of those in the court building at risk.
“It’s vital that both our courts service and police force don’t have to continue cutting back so they can do the important job of delivering justice swiftly and safely.”
Across Scotland there were 885 calls in 2016, 823 last year, and 520 for the first 10 months of 2018.
A variety of crimes were detected at each call-out, including 162 reports of drugtaking and 138 assaults.
The cases included a report of an “animals” related incident in Ayr in 2016, a public demonstration in Dumbarton, and a person consuming alcohol in a courtroom in Glasgow.
The Tories think the true overall figure is likely to be higher as data was not available for all sheriff courts.
After Glasgow the next highest was Aberdeen Sheriff Court with 199 incidents.