Police across Scotland will not investigate 25,000 crimes
ALMOST 25,000 crimes per year in Scotland will no longer be investigated under a controversial overhaul of policing backed by the SNP.
Police Scotland said a pilot in the north-east of Scotland, in which almost 5 per cent of crimes were not allocated to an officer, was deemed a success and would be rolled out across the country.
The force said that the plans to expand the “proportionate” approach would free up time for front-line officers, numbers of which have been drastically cut over recent years owing to funding pressures.
However, critics described the pilot as police waving the white flag to criminals in contrast to the approach taken in England, where forces have been told they must investigate all crimes such as thefts. Senior officers said their plan had the support of SNP ministers.
Asked whether the SNP Government was aware of the plans, Emma Bond, assistant chief constable, said: “Yeah. They absolutely are aware.
“Just to reinforce this is not a policy of not investigating, this is about us having a victim-centred approach to assessing calls, to determine whether or not there are avenues for us to investigate.
“Even if there is an incident that is filed, and we don’t have active lines of inquiry, we will reopen and investigate that further upon any new information that is received. It doesn’t mean once something is closed it may never be revisited again.”
While there is no list of offences that will no longer be investigated she suggested that some thefts and cases of criminal damage were likely to fall under the scheme. The value of an item will not be a factor in deciding whether it is allocated. Examples of crimes not investigated by an officer in the north east pilot were the theft of garden ornaments, Police Scotland said.
The scheme will mean that when members of the public report crime, it will not always be allocated to a frontline officer, if no potential lines of inquiry are identified by a call centre worker. Under the trial in the Aberdeen area some 472 crime reports – 4.6 per cent of those made over a 12-week period – were “directly filed” meaning they were officially recorded but not actively investigated by a police officer.
Police Scotland projections suggest that an estimated 24,242 crimes will not be allocated to a front-line officer per year, which otherwise would have been, once the scheme rolls out nationwide. They said this would “save” 136,376 police officer “investigation hours”.
“The proportionate response to crime process is not a policy of non-investigation,” said Ms Bond. “We are committed to investigating crime.
“Every crime report is subject of an individual risk assessment of threat, harm, risk, vulnerability and for proportionate lines of investigation and evidence, and that won’t change. If there are no lines of enquiry that can be pursued, then we should be clear about that with the person who has contacted us.”
The Scottish Police Federation, which represents front-line officers, said that it feared the changes were being made to save cash and would lead to a worse service for the public. “It is understandable that the police service and the Chief Constable have to look at ways at doing more with less, however the harsh reality is that we are now doing less with less,” a spokesman said.
Russell Findlay MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ justice secretary, said: “The rollout of this dangerous scheme formalises the SNP’S surrender to criminals as official policing policy. Doing nothing in response to thousands of crimes betrays law-abiding Scots. This is a good day for criminals and can only result in even more crime on our streets.”
Angela Constance, the SNP Justice Secretary, said: “Police Scotland have consistently stated that officers in the north-east will continue to investigate all reported crimes, with every case fully assessed and given a proportionate response based on threat, harm and risk. Building and maintaining public confidence remains key to any change in approach.”
Police Scotland said a survey it had carried out showed the policy had public support, though the results indicated a significant minority, 27 per cent of Scots, said they would no longer feel confident reporting a crime to police if the plan was rolled out nationally.
A Police Scotland assessment said that the plan would “help maintain effective policing for our communities” in light of funding cuts. The number of front-line officers had fallen to the equivalent of 16,262 at the end of 2023, the lowest level for 15 years. While the force denied the policy will be brought in as the result of funding cuts, a report said: “taking a proportionate approach to crime will reduce demand, increase capacity and will help in allowing Police Scotland to continue to deliver a high standard of service while responding to growing and increasingly complex individual and community needs, within a tightening financial environment”.
‘This dangerous scheme formalises the SNP’S surrender to criminals as official policing policy’
Acouple of nights ago, I heard a strange clanking noise outside my house. I opened my front door to investigate, and came face to face with a burglar. He had just stolen some power tools from the building site next door, and was climbing over my garden wall to get away. He looked straight at me with a friendly, placid expression, before jumping down and strolling away down my garden path.
I can’t explain why I didn’t call the police straight away. His insouciance confused me. But also, some part of me didn’t think it would make any difference. Like many people, I have grown accustomed to the idea that this country’s institutions no longer work. There’s no point calling the police, or the GP, or the council, or the tax office, because you will only end up ensnared in a sticky web of ineffectual bureaucracy – number 60 million in the call queue.
So instead I texted the contractor in charge of next door’s building works. Being Polish, he has more faith in British law and order, so he immediately rang 999. Five minutes later, the doorbell rang. The police had caught the burglar, and wondered if I would be prepared to make a statement.
This stunning efficiency was chastening enough. But then I spent the next hour sitting at the kitchen table with two delightful police officers. Appearances can be deceiving, of course, but they didn’t seem to fit either of the current media stereotypes of hopeless wokery or thinly-veiled fascism. They were both in their 20s, one black, one white, scrupulously polite, intelligent and delicately rueful about the trials of the night shift.
As we talked, their walkie-talkies crackled sporadically with dispatches from the control room: a domestic incident here, a violent drunk there, an elderly resident frightened by someone screaming on her doorstep. The London nightscape, sketched out in emergency calls.
“It’s pretty mad out there,” said one of the officers. “But I used to work in a village where there was nothing to do except move cows off the road. At least I can be useful here.”
And so he was. Amazingly useful. In just one night, he caught a burglar, secured a witness, and restored my faith in the system.
“Adults tell you to read, but then they don’t read and they go on their phones.” Oh dear, the awful truth of it. A survey into children’s reading habits (in short, poor) has found that our offspring are fed up with being lectured to by hypocrites. Asked why they don’t read, more than half said their screenaddicted parents set them a bad example. Only 25 per cent had seen their parents reading for pleasure, whereas 56 per cent said their parents relax by scrolling through social media.
Parents have always been mendacious teachers. “Do as I say, not as I do” is our ancient, and not wholly unreasonable, motto. We want our children to be good people – better than us – so we hold them to higher standards. “Don’t lie,” we say, pretending never to have been dishonest (or cruel or lazy or reckless) ourselves.
But smartphones have exposed our duplicity like no previous vice. I have done it myself: wandered into my children’s bedrooms with my head bowed, tapping out a text, and shouted at them for staring at their phones.