Letters to the editor

Abandon plan to merge police forces

Sir, - I see from your report (June 23) that the First Minister seems determined to press ahead with the plan to have Police Scotland absorb the Scottish operations of British Transport Police despite almost everyone who has anything to do with policing the railway being against the idea.

As usual, Nicola Sturgeon has trotted out the “access to specialist officers” line as a reason for continuing with what is nothing more than a good old-fashioned power grab.

There is no sound operational reason for this change.

It is only happening to satisfy a political whim, perhaps the need of the Scottish Government to remove the word British from the title.

What has been entirely disregarded in the process is that policing the railway is an entirely different task from mainstream policing.

It is a dangerous environment and there are myriad regulations peculiar to policing the railway that BTP officers are familiar with but which Police Scotland officers will have to be trained in at no little expense.

This is every bit as bad an idea as Police Scotland has proved to be and it should be abandoned.

A British Transport Police officer on duty at Dundee railway station.