Capital endures heaviest toll of thefts from homes
7.07% decrease, despite the city council contributing £2.45 million to fund
54 local officers.
Councillor Jim Campbell believes criminals may be taking advantage of the lower police numbers.
He said: “There is a big concern the police resource here is very, very stretched.
“I would argue that Police Scotland are not resourcing policing in Edinburgh to the extent that they ought to be.
“The local policing in Edinburgh is something like 50% lower per head of the population than it is in Glasgow.
“In Edinburgh we feel that Police Scotland should justify that and if they can’t justify it then they’ve got to put in the appropriate level of local police officers based on the population.
“When you look at detection rates, we can’t figure out a justification for why Edinburgh is just not nearly as wellresourced in terms of local police officers.
“It feels that we are contributing more than any other council in Scotland by a big margin and we’re not getting the level of local police officers.
“Maybe people are aware of that and they think it’s not a bad place if you’re wanting to commit a crime.
“Our local officers do a great job in Edinburgh, but we need more of them.”