Drop in police helicopter use fuels funding crisis fears
A DROP in police helicopter call-outs has fuelled claims ministers are failing to ‘properly’ fund Scotland’s force.
The use of Police Scotland’s emergency aircraft is down 34 per cent over the past five years, official figures show.
It follows concerns that the single force will run out of funds in February, as chiefs manage a structural fund deficit of £70million a year.
Another £300million in capital funds is also needed to bring the service’s ‘crumbling’ estate up to ‘legal standard’.
This year, the police helicopter has been dispatched an average of 133 times a month – a five-year low and down from 153 times a month last year, and 179 times in 2015.
Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr is now raising concerns about whether the cost of sending out the force’s helicopter is a factor in the declining number of missions.
The MSP for North East Scotland said: ‘It’s not cheap to send out a police helicopter and clearly the decision is being made somewhere to reduce the number of journeys it is making.
‘That’s against the backdrop of an SNP Government which has not properly resourced our police service for years.
‘Police helicopters play a vital role in detecting crime, so it’s extremely concerning to see an increasing reluctance to call on that resource.’
Police chiefs said that drones have been used instead of the helicopter due to ‘operational’ decisions rather than cost.
A spokesman for force watchdog the Scottish Police
Authority (SPA) said: ‘Police Scotland make decisions on deployment based on operational reasons and not on possible financial implications.
‘A number of remotely piloted aircraft have been purchased by Police Scotland to provide a wider range of flexible air support, in particthrough
‘A vital role in detecting crime’
ular to support the search for missing people, and that will impact on the requirement of helicopter support.’
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘Decisions to deploy aircraft are an operational matter for Police Scotland. Despite constraints on Scotland’s public services a decade of UK austerity, policing services have been maintained and improved – and since 2016-17 the annual budget for policing has increased by more than £80million, bringing it to £1.2billion for 2019-20.’
The concerns about police spending come only weeks after the SPA’s boss quit – and launched an excoriating broadside against the Scottish Government.
Professor Susan Deacon stepped down as chairman of the oversight body after only two years in the job.
She attacked government interference in policing and condemned ‘fundamentally flawed’ structures, while claiming that ‘the odds were stacked against’ her.
In a damning assessment of the single force, Professor
Deacon said: ‘This is a system that was put together with undue haste, and not designed and properly built from the outset. It was built on shaky foundations.’
At the time, Nicola Sturgeon rejected suggestions that Police Scotland was in crisis.
The First Minister said it ‘does a disservice to the police officers around the country working so hard to keep us safe to say so’.
Last month, a YouGov poll found a growing number of Scots were unhappy with the SNP’s domestic record, with 44 per cent saying justice was being poorly managed.
It came as Police Scotland admitted having to spend heavily to repair vehicles in its ageing fleet. The Tories said the force spent £14million on this over the past three years.