First Minister denies police crisis despite looming cuts
SCOTLAND’S police force is not in ‘crisis’ despite mounting evidence of budget cutbacks and a secret plan to slash officer numbers, Nicola Sturgeon claimed yesterday.
The First Minister defended the SNP’s stewardship of the single force, which comes at a time when violent and sex crimes are on the increase.
But the Lib Dems last night accused ministers of a ‘centralisation programme’ that has taken officers off the streets.
It emerged yesterday that Edinburgh has witnessed a huge fall in the number of officers working on each shift. According to the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), before 2011 the city had a minimum of 70 officers per shift but now the figure is only 38.
The revelation came on the day that the Mail revealed proposals which could see up to 300 bobbies disappear from the beat.
But quizzed at a press conference in Edinburgh yesterday,
‘Drop off in services’
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘No, I don’t think the single force is in crisis.
‘We work with the Scottish Police Authority to make sure we’ve got policing in this country which is appropriate to the needs of the country.’
She said officers cannot legally be made ‘redundant’ and added: ‘We have protected police officers at 1,000 above the number we inherited.
‘The Justice Secretary has made it clear to the chief constable that that’s the position we expect them to maintain.
‘Like all parts of the public sector just now, of course there are challenges around public spending and we’ll work... to make sure these challenges are being handled appropriately and in a way that protects frontline services.’
But Police Scotland faces a £21.1million financial black hole this year and rank-and-file officers warn that cuts are hampering the fight against crime.
The SNP has long boasted that it has met a 2007 election pledge to recruit 1,000 extra officers.
Officer numbers are at their lowest for nearly six years.
As revealed in yesterday’s Mail, ministers are pushing for a projected cut in officer numbers not to exceed around 300. The plan is for personnel to be replaced by largely civilian staff skilled in fighting online crime .
Lib Dem justice spokesman Liam McArthur said: ‘We seem to be in the ludicrous situation where it looks like Police Scotland are being forced to hire back civilian specialists to replace those who were booted out in an attempt to meet arbitrary SNP officer targets. The Scottish Government’s top-down target has tied the hands of Police Scotland management.’
Tory MSP Douglas Ross said: ‘If the SNP continue on this path then there will be a serious drop off in frontline services. While Nicola Sturgeon might not classify this as a crisis, many people are rightly worried that at a time when violent crime is on the up in parts of the country, we face seeing fewer officers.’
Brian Jones, chairman of the SPF east area committee, told the Edinburgh Evening News: ‘There has been a major contraction of resources right across the east. We cannot keep cutting. We have to have a sensible approach. If we don’t I fear it could be just a matter of time before something significant happens and we’re not able to cope.’