Police union accuses Scots Government of ‘deliberately ambiguous’ Covid message
● Scottish Police Federation warns of too big a gap between what the law says and what people are willing to tolerate
The organisation representing rank and file police officers across Scotland has accused the Scottish Government of “deliberately ambiguous” messaging on how Covid-19 restrictions are being enforced.
The Scottish Police Federation warned there was “already too much of a gap emerging between what the law says, what the guidance says and what the public is prepared to tolerate”.
The body forecast that divergence would only widen in coming weeks as the public’s “hunger for freedom” increases throughout the pandemic.
Amid ongoing concerns at how the easing of lockdown restrictions is impacting on compliance, the federation said there was a disparity between the public’s expectations of how police should respond, and the legislative provisions in place.
“Rather than seek to address that gap in its messaging, the government messaging was deliberately ambiguous, and this has led an outpouring of frustration, particularly on social media, between those who want the police to be more authoritarian and those who advocate for liberty and policing within the limits of the law,” it said.
The statement comes as Police Scotland revealed that more than one in six of its employees who have undergone Covid-19 testing had tested positive for the virus as of 29 May. The force also said that securing PPE for its staff “continues to be challenging”.
The federation stressed that as the government moved to enact legislation enacting the new Covid-19 restrictions, the police service “did not know precisely what was being asked of it until the eve of the legislative restrictions coming into place”.
It was “regrettable”, the federation added, that there was no early engagement with police about what it described as “perhaps the most restrictive legislation passed in our lifetimes”. The degree of public compliance at the outset of the lockdown, the body added, was “frankly remarkable” in light of officers being asked to follow “last-minute” operational guidance and “work-arounds”. The Scottish Government said there was “always a balance to be struck between what is in legislation and what is in guidance”, and emphasised that police had been “involved at all stages” of the process.
The catalogue of criticisms is laid out in a letter sent by the federation to Holyrood’s justice sub-committee on policing, ahead of its latest meeting today. The Association of
Police Superintendents has also written to the sub-committee, pointing out that complaints about police action taken during the pandemic were indicative of the public confusing the legislation with the broadcast advice and guidance – an occurrence that proved “challenging for the frontline policing response”.
Going forward, it emphasised the need for any amendments or new legislation to avoid criminalising “normal behaviours and actions”. The letter singled out the guidance limiting travel to a five-mile radius, which it said risked discriminating against Scots in rural communities if brought into strict regulation.
In its submission, the Scottish Police Federation also called for daily testing of frontline police and others in response roles, pointing out that through no fault of their own, it is those very officers who “represent the greatest risk of spreading the virus through communities”.
It also said the most highprofile challenge facing its officers was Covid-19 assaults. Ordinary police officers, it explained, were “exceptionally angry” that neither Police Scotland nor the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service took a “deliberate and unambiguous position” that those committing such assaults should be held in custody pending court appearances.
“The harm this caused – and continues to cause – cannot be understated,” it added. “On one hand, officers were, and are, expected to enforce legislation to ‘save lives’ whilst on the other having to tolerate those who endangered their own lives often being home in their beds before the officers themselves were off duty.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “There is always a balance to be struck between what is in legislation and what is in guidance. Police Scotland has been involved at all stages as we have considered these issues.
“The Scottish Government has absolute confidence in Police Scotland and their ability and professionalism to support the measures in place to keep the people of Scotland safe with an independent survey showing strong public support for policing in Scotland during the pandemic, which is to be welcomed.”
Around three million deaths may have been prevented by coronaviruslockdownsacross Europe, research suggests.
A modelling study from Imperial College London scientists, involving data from 11 European countries up to early last month, found lockdowns had a “substantial effect” in reducing transmission levels of Covid-19.
European countries began implementing social distancing, school closures and national lockdowns in March, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson putting the UK in lockdown on 23 March.
The Imperial researchers estimate that across all 11 countries – the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland – between 12 and 15 million people were infected with Covid-19 up to 4 May, representing between 3.2 per cent and 4 per cent of the population. In their paper, published in the Nature journal, they said the results showed major nonpharmaceutical interventions and lockdown in particular had a “large effect on reducing transmission”.
The paper says: “Continued intervention should be considered to keep transmission of SARS-COV-2 under control.”
“... the government messaging was deliberately ambiguous, and this has led an outpouring of frustration.”
SCOTTISH POLICE FEDERATION