Don’t give in to low-level vandals

KENNY MacAskill has been cultivating another opinion. This time, he’s decided it’s time for police to withdraw from responding to some “minor” crime.

The former justice secretary suggests low-level vandalism doesn’t mean a visit from an officer is justified.

That might make sense on a spreadsheet – or in MacAskill’s mind – but it won’t be welcomed in communities blighted by low-level crime.

Pervasive antisocial behaviour, including vandalism, is exactly the kind of thing the public want police to crack down on.

Leave that unchecked and emboldened idiots go on to bigger and more disruptive crimes.

MacAskill is right about one thing – the police are not being funded adequately. But he seems quick to give up the fight for any extra cash.

Admitting defeat is not the answer. Scotland doesn’t want an elite paramilitary force, armed to the teeth, swooping in on serious criminals and terrorists.

Neither do people expect a return to Dixon of Dock Green, as MacAskill touches on.

People want a properly funded force able to respond to community needs and keep them safe.

It’s up to the Government and chief constable to find a way of rising to the challenge, not retreating from it.