Health calls ‘crippling’ police as they become ‘security guards’ of A&E – SPF

The massive number of health calls taking up officers’ time is “crippling” the ability of Scotland’s national force to police the country, the organisation representing rank and file officers has warned.

David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said officers told him that between 40% and 60% of their capacity is now devoted to dealing with health calls.

He said the issue is now the “biggest external inhibitor to our ability to deliver policing”.

During a fringe event at the SNP conference, Mr Threadgold said police are now the “default security guards” at A&E units.

He said officers are consistently spending hours with Scots facing health issues because of failings in the health system.

Community safety minister Siobhian Brown, who joined Mr Threadgold at the event, said the issue was “unacceptable”.

At the fringe in Aberdeen, Mr Threadgold also warned that the under-25 guidelines in Scotland were “off the mark” and that the “deterrent value of being caught in Scotland is largely non-existent”.

And he said Police Scotland must have the ability to borrow money and carry over its budget to the next year.

Mr Threadgold said: “My colleagues across Scotland tell me that the challenges that are presented within the health sector mean that police officers are picking up between 40%, 50%, 60% of our operational capacity, which is taken up by dealing with health calls.”

He said the issue meant officers were forced to divert attention away from crime, adding: “If I am an operational supervisor and half of my time to deliver safer communities to deal with online child exploitation, to deal with anything that you can think of that the police might be involved in, if we lose half of our extent or more because of something we cannot control, then there has to be reform across the public sector in Scotland if we are going to deliver the policing service that the public, I believe, expects.”

The SPF chairman said “the police have now become default security guards at accident and emergency units” across the country.

He added: “My contention is that the handover piece between the police and health is broken, or indeed non-existent, and that is crippling our ability to deliver policing in Scotland.”

During the fringe event, Mr Threadgold criticised Scotland’s under-25 guidelines, which make it less likely for young people to go to prison if they commit a crime.

He said that he agreed with the principle of the policy, but said in practice it was “way off the mark”.

He added: “Having spoken to youngsters and having spoken to cops this morning who are dealing with these situations time and time again, the deterrent value of being caught in Scotland is largely non-existent.”

The community safety minister described the pressures facing police from taking health calls as “unacceptable”, adding: “I appreciate that we expect police time shouldn’t be there.”

She said the Scottish Government had to “grab the bull by the horns” to ensure police time is not taken up by health matters.

Ms Brown said it was a priority for her and Justice Secretary Angela Constance that the challenges facing the emergency services are dealt with.

Speaking about the under-25 guidelines, the minister said that it was important to “acknowledge that it doesn’t mean anyone under 25 doesn’t go to jail”, adding that young people who commit crimes will be punished.