The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
SNP ‘soft’ in dealing with anti-social behaviour
Government attacked after huge fall in number of fines issued by police
The Scottish Government has been accused of presiding over a “soft-touch” justice system after new figures revealed a huge drop in the number of fines issued for anti-social behaviour.
Fines have also decreased significantly in Tayside and Fife, with Tayside handing out 1,412 fewer fines since 2013-14.
Police in Scotland have the power to issue on-the-spot fines called fixed penalty notices (FPN) for low-level anti-social behaviour.
These include offences such as “riotous behaviour” while drunk in a licensed premises, urinating or defecating in public, vandalism and being drunk and incapable.
Police Scotland said the drop is because officers can now issue formal warnings which offer a more “proportionate” response to low-level offending and allow for greater discretion from police officers.
Figures obtained under freedom of information legislation revealed since 2013-14 the number of fixed penalties issued annually has fallen by almost three-quarters.
In 2013-14, police across Scotland handed out 55,670 fines but this has been decreasing each year since, to just 15,508 in 2016-17.
There were 712 FPNs handed out in Tayside in 2016-17, down from 2,124 in 2013-14. Police in Fife issued 1,385 fines in 2013-14 but this dropped to 237 in 2016-17.
Scottish Conservatives justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: “If these figures are falling because of a huge improvement in crime levels and a reduction in anti-social behaviour, then that would of course be welcome.
“But people will be more suspicious than that.
“On the ground, the public rarely report that they perceive crime falling in their communities, and other indicators don’t tie in with this reduction in penalties.
“The SNP is keen to empty jails, and its soft-touch approach means police have to be more reliant on punishments like these.
“So if they’re dropping too, people will rightly question what on earth is actually being done to tackle and punish the anti-social behaviour that makes life miserable for so many people and communities in Scotland.”
Superintendent Andrew Allan of Police Scotland’s Criminal Justice Division said officers now issue recorded police warnings in many cases where fixed penalties would have been issued.
Record police warnings replaced formal adult warnings and are used as an alternative to prosecution.
These are recorded on the Criminal History System for a period of two years so can be taken into account should the offender come to the further notice of the police.
Superintendent Allan said: “The use of recorded police warnings covers a wider range of offences than previous formal adult warnings.
“In replacing formal adult warnings, they have added to options for officers in dealing with offences that would have been dealt with by anti-social behaviour fixed penalty tickets, and reduced the number of offences that require to be reported to the procurator fiscal.
“This has been a positive step forwards for officer discretion and delivering a proportionate outcome and means of addressing offending.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Issuing of fixed penalty notices is an operational matter for Police Scotland.
“The Scottish Government has provided a framework to help local authorities tackle anti-social behaviour.”
To accuse police of ‘soft-touch justice’ is a strong statement, and bound to give some political mileage to the accuser. Of course there were political motivations behind the accusation that police action on anti-social behaviour is too soft.
The trouble is, the figures don’t necessarily tally with reported experience, and this does invite further scrutiny.
In 2013/14, police across Scotland issued 55,670 fines for low-level anti-social behaviour.
By 2016/17, this figure has dropped to just 15,508, with Tayside alone recording a drop of more than 1,400 fines issued in that period, an apparently steady reduction in numbers.
Anecdotally, it doesn’t seem to add up. Certainly there is no reported feeling within Courier Country that anti-social behaviour has declined so drastically.
It would be interesting to see an in-depth analysis of the figures.
Police Scotland could well have a point, that their new system of preferring recorded police warnings has resulted in a different management system, including an easing in bureaucractic reporting requirements. This seems fair enough, and equally fair that these warnings remain on an offender’s record for two years.
However, whether any of this translates into a better experience for the community is still in question.