New laws won’t help us police lockdown, warn Scots officers
‘Too slow out of the blocks’ ‘Morally indefensible’
THE number of people breaking lockdown rules has risen as the weather has improved, rank and file police officers say.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) said more members of the public have been violating lockdown guidelines as well as legally enforceable regulations.
It also criticised Nicola Sturgeon for threatening to add new laws in response to the crowds that congregated in public places and beauty spots during the sunny May bank holiday weekend.
And in a blistering attack, the SPF condemned the ‘morally indefensible’ failure to take a hardline stance on people who carry out coronavirus-related attacks on police officers.
The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) has also told MSPs there have been ‘prolonged siege-type incidents’ because officers don’t have powers to enter properties without a warrant to enforce rules such as the restriction on indoor gatherings.
The concerns were raised in written evidence to Holyrood’s justice sub-committee on policing, which will today hold a hearing on the impact of lockdown on the police force.
In its submission, the SPF said the political and legal process was ‘far too slow out of the starting blocks’ when announcing measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and criticised the failure of the Scottish Government to engage early on ‘the most restrictive legislation passed in our lifetimes’. It said: ‘Although anecdotal, it is our observation that public compliance with the public health guidance, and indeed the regulations, has steadily dissipated as the weather has improved.
‘Whilst it may have been a reaction to the significant public gatherings over the weekend of May 29, it was disappointing to hear the instinctive government reaction was one of more stringent policing and indeed more law.
‘Officers have faced the real challenges of a public expecting the police to enforce government guidance and the considerable gap between it and the actual legislative provisions.’
The SPF also told MSPs that the ‘most high-profile challenge’ facing officers has been the emergence of Covid-19 assaults, saying members are ‘exceptionally angry’ that the police service and Crown did not adopt a ‘deliberate and unambiguous’ position that people carrying out such assaults should be kept in custody pending court appearances. It said: ‘The harm this caused, and continues to cause, cannot be understated.
‘The very obvious conflicts between custody arrangements, courts and the safety of the officers were skewed towards the benefit of the former. Given the ask that was, and is being made of police officers, this is a morally indefensible position.’
It warned it could take ‘several years’ to tackle the backlog of cases waiting to be heard in Scotland’s courts, which could ‘undermine the confidence of victims and witnesses in the wider justice system’.
The SPF demanded daily testing of frontline police officers who ‘through no fault of their own represent the greatest risk of spreading the virus through the communities’.
In a separate submission, the ASPS said there was a rise in ‘public nuisance’ complaints about noisy parties and other public gatherings in the early days of lockdown – and said some were ‘using the regulations as a malicious means to continue old grievances/disputes with neighbours’.
It said rules ‘did not provide constables with the power of entry without warrant and, on some occasions, this delayed police actions and in fewer still, led to prolonged siege-type incidents developing’.
John Finnie, convener of the sub-committee, said policing in such extraordinary times ‘was always going to be a challenge’, adding: ‘Nonetheless, public scrutiny of the police remains as important as ever.’
The Scottish Government said it had ‘absolute confidence in Police Scotland and their ability and professionalism to support the measures in place to keep the people of Scotland safe’.
A spokesman added; ‘The vast majority of people have complied with the rules.’