Funding row as police scour charity shops for equipment

Federation says public is being misled over budget constraints facing force

COST-CUTTING measures at Police Scotland have seen officers sent to buy equipment at charity shops and traffic police urged to return to their station to avoid paying lunch expenses, it has been claimed.

Calum Steele, general secretary of Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said the mantra “cash is king” now permeates throughout the force and the charity shop example was just one of the “ridiculous yet brutal realities” of widespread belt-tightening.

He also said the public was being “misled” about the reality of policing.

Force watchdog the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) said it did not recognise Mr Steele’s claims, which have raised serious concerns over the health of law enforcement, while Police Scotland denied some of the allegations, insisting “public confidence in policing remains strong”.

In a statement posted on the SPF website, Mr Steele also claimed that cases are being passed “from officer to officer to officer” increasing the risk of mistakes being made and “grossly diminishing the care for victims”.

He accused police chiefs of forcing dog handlers to halt search duties midway through to prevent incurring overtime costs and pointed to a case where officers were asked to scour charity shops for a car window blind rather than paying extra at a supermarket.

“Officers dealing with a child rightly ought to go some way to protect the child from needless intrusion by seeking the purchase of car sun blinds to help screen them from public view while making a journey in a police car,” he said.

“Any one of us who has children know these can readily be bought for a couple of pounds, but the officers were sent to scour charity shops to see if they could source them cheaper.

“Dog handlers (those we have left) following trails are being told to stop as they approach the end of their shift (lest they incur overtime) and other dog handlers are simply despatched to pick up from where they left off.

“General and criminal inquiries are passed from officer to officer to officer, grossly diminishing the care for victims and increasing the likelihood of mistakes being made, evidence being lost and greater costs and abstractions should the issue subsequently progress to court.”

Mr Steele told The Herald that traffic police have been told to drive long distances back to their stations to avoid the force paying out lunch expenses.

According to Audit Scotland, Police Scotland is facing “significant issues” with its finances, including a potential £85 million budget black hole by 2018/19.

The shock claims from the one of the top figures at the SPF, which represents rank-and-file officers, has sparked concern among politicians at Holyrood.

Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross described the claims as “deeply worrying” and said they should be closely scrutinised by the Scottish Government while his Liberal Democrat counterpart Liam McArthur said: “The idea of officers being sent to charity shops to source essential kit would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.”

Police Scotland said it acknowledged the financial challenge facing the force, but remains committed to delivering “effective and efficient” policing.

Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick added: “Dog handlers do not automatically stop searching if they are going to occur overtime, they ask for authorisation to stay beyond their tour of duty if the search cannot be completed within rostered hours.

“Officers do not routinely or regularly purchase items from charity shops to support operational requirements. On this occasion an officer bought a sun shade – something we do not carry in stock – to protect the identity of a vulnerable witness, a highly commendable action by our officers.”

An SPA spokesman said there are ongoing financial challenges and “it is important that all officers and staff play a part in meeting those”.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government insisted that police budgets had been protected, noting that it was the responsibility of the force to decide the best way to use its budget.

She also criticised the Westminster Government, claiming that the SPA “remains the only police authority in the UK unable to recover VAT, which is liable to an annual cost of around £25 million”.