State of Scottish policing ‘pretty bleak’ amid officer cuts

The state of Scottish policing has become “pretty bleak” amid significant cuts to officer numbers, a police federation chief has warned.

The general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) David Kennedy branded the cuts – which have seen force numbers fall to 16,600 at the end of June, compared to 17,496 in 2013 – as “catastrophic”.

Mr Kennedy also said a planned pilot which will see officers in the north east of Scotland not investigate some minor crimes to free up space, would have a “disastrous” impact on the community.

At a fringe event during the SNP conference in Aberdeen, he said: “The state of affairs, I suppose, within Scotland at the moment, is pretty bleak.

“What has happened over the last year and a half Is we have seen a cut in numbers – and quite a catastrophic cut.

“We’re seeing more and more work being put on police officers, but yet now we’re at the point where we’ve lost nearly 1,500 police officers and that is not sustainable to provide the service that police want to deliver – it’s not going to happen.”

On the north east pilot, he said: “If they (police) are not on the streets, if they’re not attending calls, all you’re going to get is a reactive service, akin to what we had during Cop26 when all of the police officers were doing that and if you phoned up, they said ‘unless it’s an emergency, we’re not coming’.

The SPF head also defended rank and file police officers, who are represented by the organisation, after former chief constable Sir Iain Livingstone said “institutional racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination” was present within the force.

Mr Kennedy said police officers were “utterly hurt” by the remarks, adding: “Our members, they genuinely don’t recognise it. They are not racist. They most definitely are not.”

“Our members, to be honest, weren’t happy – (they) did not agree with the chief constable’s comments.

“We would agree there are institutional issues but it is the police officers who get these issues. I haven’t seen any evidence that members of the public are getting treated differently because of their race, creed, colour or gender.”

The panel consisted of SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll, who chairs the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee.

Minister for alcohol and drugs policy, Elena Whitham, who had been scheduled to attend, was unable to because of Covid-19.

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.