Police are failing rural Scotland
As the schools return and the Scottish Parliament gets back to business, Police Scotland will be high on the agenda.
It has been a summer of reports from rank and file officers about the strain on the service. In a series of astonishing tweets last month from the Scottish Police Federation the true extent of that strain was revealed.
According to emails from serving officers, the main objective seems to be saving money and stopping overtime rather than serving communities.
This includes claims that “people who should be held in custody are being released … to avoid officers staying on to complete the case and incur overtime.”Officers “being told not to be proactive and investigate drug dealers.”
We even had the ridiculous story of officers shopping in charity shops to“purchase equipment”.
Some of these instances may be passed off as isolated but, taken together, they show the pressures being felt by officers.
Concerns over Police Scotland’s budget, set by the SNP government, are nothing new.
In the last parliament we witnessed the closure of police front desks across the country, the shutting of local courts and the feeling that policing in Scotland was no longer local.
The number of police officers in Scotland is sitting at its lowest level since 2010. As civilian staff are being heavily reduced, many of these officers find themselves working behind desks, answering calls and filling in paperwork, rather than on the streets.
Meanwhile, those that are out in the streets aren’t necessarily on yours.
Recent reports have shown Police Scotland to be an asymmetrical force, where resources are being focused predominantly on the west, leaving many areas with fewer officers.
Police divisions have a set number of officers that no shift should fall below. Yet in the east and rural Scotland this level is often not met.
As a result anti-social behaviour is becoming an ever-increasing complaint in my inbox. Our community officers are under-resourced, short in numbers and unable to fully tackle the problem.
Constituents often struggle to get through to make their complaint and then, when they do, feel it has not been taken seriously.
From anti-social and dangerous riding of quad bikes to nuisance neighbours, residents are beginning to feel that the police aren’t in their communities.
That is why I have called for greater leadership from the government and Police Scotland on the big challenges facing policing in Scotland.
We must improve levels of public satisfaction and confidence.
The public must be confident that Police Scotland and the SNP have learned from their past mistakes and that our hard-working officers and staff are given the support they need to keep our communities safe.
According to recent figures, only 38 per cent of crime was reported in Scotland, only 58 per cent of the public have confidence in the police and only 63 per cent of those that reported crime were satisfied with how it was handled.
We can and we must do better.