Thin Green Line: half of police on beat are trainees
NEARLY half of police officers responding to crimes and emergency calls in Scotland’s capital city are trainees. A report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said the single force is relying on a high proportion of probationers for vital tasks in Edinburgh.
It also found that the city has the highest crime rate in Scotland, soaring levels of housebreaking and sexual offending and nearly two-thirds of crimes unsolved.
Last night the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), representing rank-and-file officers, voiced its concern and said it is investigating reliance on trainees across Scotland.
Last month, a junior officer was blamed for failing to pass on details of a sighting of missing Glasgow pensioner Janet McKay, who was found dead five days later. The tragedy is being investigated by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.
According to the HMCIS report, 45 per cent of response and community teams were made up of probationary constables. It also found that ‘specific demographics and challenges that come with being the capital city were not recognised when Police Scotland was introduced’.
Brian Docherty, SPF chairman, said: ‘It would be extremely concerning if this proportion was the same across Scotland and it is something that we are looking into further.’
Scottish Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson said yesterday: ‘The level of probationary officers found attending call-outs across Edinburgh, at 45 per cent, is far too high. It’s unfair to the public, who expect experienced officers to deal with calls for help. It’s unfair to the too few experienced police officers who need to know proven colleagues are there when they are needed.’
HM Inspector of Constabulary Derek Penman acknowledged that the single force ‘has provided greater access to specialist support’, but said there was a need to ‘review the balance’ in the force.’
Edinburgh has the highest number of recorded crimes per 10,000 of population at 738.2 – well above the national average of 481.2. Sexual offences rose 21.1 per cent in the last year, while the figure was 9.8 per cent nationally.
The crime detection rate in the city – where a suspect is reported to prosecutors – fell from 41.7 per cent in 2012-13 to 35.4 per cent last year, the country’s lowest.
The report follows Police Scotland chief constable Sir Stephen House’s admission that a ‘criminal subculture’ had taken root in Edinburgh.
Public confidence in the police plunged from 77.1 per cent to 72 per cent between 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Chief Superintendent Mark Williams, Edinburgh’s local policing commander, said since early 2015 police had ‘halved the number of break-ins per month and doubled our detection rates’ in the city.
He added there had been significant reductions in the overall number of violent crimes and thefts.
it was with remarkable candour that sir stephen House admitted a ‘criminal subculture’ had taken root in Edinburgh.
that assessment four months ago by the outgoing Police scotland chief constable has also proved to be entirely accurate. the new report by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary must rank as one of the most damning ever produced by the watchdog.
it reveals our capital city has become a hotbed of crime, where two-thirds of offences are unsolved and housebreaking is up by 20 per cent in a year.
With bleak predictability, the report links the problems to a lack of planning before Police scotland was launched in 2013.
Disturbingly, nearly half of police response and community teams are now made up of probationers with less than two years of experience.
the mass cull of civilian workers combined with senior officers being seconded to high-profile taskforces tackling domestic abuse and rape means some rookies are effectively being left to manage on their own.
this new report spells out in forensic detail the price the public are paying for the snP’s calamitous police reforms.
and there is little to suggest that the disturbing situation in the Edinburgh area is not being replicated in other parts of scotland.
indeed, if sir stephen was not already preparing to step down in December following a string of scandals, this report may well have forced him to go.
as it is, we are left with officers’ morale in freefall thanks to a lame duck leader, a laughably ineffectual ‘oversight body’ in the form of the scottish Police authority – and a Justice secretary who is rarely to be seen or heard.
truly, policing in scotland is now a shameful mess – and one that is entirely of the snP’s own creation.