Scottish police may not investigate every crime

Review of pilot scheme in north-east may see a wider rollout, but critics say the criminals are the winners

POLICE are considering not conducting a full investigation of every crime in Scotland in a move critics say will only benefit criminals.

An evaluation has been completed of a controversial pilot scheme in the north east of the country where some “minor” crimes were not investigated if deemed to require excessive manpower.

Complaints of some thefts, break-ins and vandalism were closed if there were no leads or CCTV evidence, in what was described as a “proportionate response to crime”.

Police Scotland argued the move would give officers more time to focus on more serious offences and emergencies. The findings are now being considered before the force decides whether to roll out the protocol across the country.

Senior officers told the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) watchdog that the change would affect less than five per cent of crimes and there had been a “very positive” response from the public and victims in the north east.

Jo Farrell, the force’s new Chief Constable, insisted it was “not a policy of non-investigation” but one of her deputies admitted cases with no leads would be dropped after an initial assessment.

The force hopes this means crime victims get a quicker resolution to their cases and their hopes are not falsely raised that the culprits will be caught. However, the UK Government said in 2023 that every theft in England and Wales must be investigated.

The policy could be rolled out across the country after it emerged earlier in February that the number of police officers in Scotland had fallen to the lowest level in 15 years. Official figures disclosed the force had the equivalent of 16,363 full-time officers at the end of 2023, a reduction of 250 over the previous three months and 282 over the year.

Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tories’ shadow justice secretary, said: “Savage and sustained SNP cuts and their weak justice agenda have left police numbers at their lowest since 2008, with officers now unable to investigate certain crimes. It should be a source of shame for ministers that this dangerous pilot scheme looks set to be rolled out across Scotland. The public are not even being told what crimes will not be investigated nor how these decisions will be made.

“Our hard-working police officers did not sign up for this. Communities don’t deserve it. The only winners are the criminals.”

Ms Farrell told an SPA meeting on Thursday: “What it’s not is a policy of non-investigation ... but we want the reporting of crimes to be easier to do and for those investigations to be proportionate and appropriate.”

Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said the evaluation would be brought before the SPA shortly and crime reports would still be “the subject of individual assessment”.

He said: “If there are no lines of inquiry that can be pursued then we

‘It should be a source of shame for ministers that this pilot scheme looks set to roll out across Scotland’

shouldn’t be, in some ways, setting up an expectation of the things that police can do. We can’t pursue lines that don’t exist and in some respects it’s as simple as that.”

Referring to the findings of the pilot in the north east, he said: “We’ve been able to better manage public and victim expectations at the point of first contact than perhaps we would be at the moment.”

He added: “There’s work under way to quantify the benefits in terms of capacity to free up front-line officers, where in the past they might have been allocated a series of crime reports where there was neither a proportionate or reasonable line of inquiry that could be pursued.”

Police Scotland said: “The Proportionate Response to Crime pilot concluded on Nov 20 2023. We have undertaken a full evaluation and we are now engaging with partner organisations before considering next steps.”

The Scottish Government was approached for comment.