Police chief claims social distancing aiding crime

FM to consider suggestion rules hampering probe into wave of Dundee break-ins

Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she will look into police claims that social distancing rules are preventing them from catching criminals responsible for a wave of Dundee break-ins.

Ms Sturgeon was reacting to comments made by Tayside’s most senior officer, Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd, in his quarterly report to city councillors.

In his report, Mr Todd blamed the restrictions for a fall in detection rate for those particular crimes from 32.4% to 18.3%.

He said the increase in the proportion of break-ins that went unsolved was “directly impacted by some Covid-19 restrictions and social distancing measures”.

Police Scotland declined to elaborate on his explanation because the proper procedure is for the chief superintendent to first answer councillors’ questions at a meeting on Monday.

At her daily coronavirus briefing the first minister said she “would be very happy to discuss directly with him or others in Police Scotland if there are particular issues that need to be addressed”.

She added: “I will probably have a closer look before saying any more.”

Tayside Chief Superintendent Elaine Logue later said “it is extremely difficult to make swift conclusions about crime trends” from lockdown circumstances.

She said: “The unprecedented coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions have undoubtedly changed some of the ways officers respond to calls and conduct investigations to minimise contact and reduce the risk to members of the public, as well as police officers and staff.”

She said domestic break-in investigations, by their nature, can be protacted.

The number of break-ins in Dundee has risen by around 62%, an increase from 37 to 60, according to the quarterly update, while detection rates – the way officers measure their success in catching perpetrators – have fallen away sharply across the whole of Tayside

Break-ins in Perth and Kinross have fallen from 33 to 20 and in Angus from 22 to 12, both drops of more than 60%.

But detection rates have fallen to only 10% in Perth and Kinross, 15% in Angus and 18% in Dundee.

The figures showed the number of break-ins to commercial properties had fallen slightly from 35 to 32 with a detection rate of almost 47%.

Nicola Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney during First Minister’s Questions at the Scottish Parliament.

Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd, divisional commander for Tayside.