Police Resources

Speech delivered on Wed 16th Apr 2008

I apologise on behalf of my colleague, Margaret Smith, who is the Lib Dem member on the Justice Committee. Sadly, she is not here as she has a problem with her back. She specifically asked me to pass on her thanks to her colleagues on the committee, with whom she has worked well, and to all the people who came to give evidence. In particular, she wanted me to convey her thanks to all the parliamentary staff. I was on both the Justice 1 Committee and the Justice 2 Committee in the previous session of Parliament. We always asked for great commitment from our staff, and whenever we asked them to do something they came through. I thank them, too.

I welcome the debate and the on-going work of the Justice Committee in investigating the effective use of police resources, marking 40 years since the enactment of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967. Clearly, the roles and responsibilities of the police have changed a great deal since then, particularly

in recent years, so this was an important time at which to assess the efficacy of the police's provision of services to the Scottish people.

There are increasing demands on the police force, for instance as a result of changes in legislation and in our society, as well as the heightened threat of terrorism. In the evidence that was given to the committee by police authorities and joint police boards, it was clear that they feel that their current level of resources is insufficient to deliver the policing that they feel is desirable and which the public expect of them. However, the issue is not just about the level of resources that our police forces have; it is also about the ways in which those resources are used. There are concerns that resources have been drawn away from the front line of policing, with only a small percentage of police officers available for deployment in any 24-hour period.

As part of its investigation, the committee also set out to look into the Scottish Government's commitment-to which Paul Martin referred-to provide an additional 1,000 police officers. Through that investigation, the committee learned that the pledge was, basically, undeliverable. Even the cabinet secretary now seems dubious of the possibility of fulfilling that pledge; he admitted last month in his response to the committee's report:

"Ensuring that the establishment remains at 1000 above the 2007 establishment will be difficult given the significant number of officers who are due to retire over the next 3 years".

I share the committee's disappointment that more information on the expected timetable for implementation of a new or revised retention scheme has not been provided and join its calls for the Scottish Government to supply that information at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps the cabinet secretary will respond to that point in his closing speech.

There are serious concerns about how realistic the planned efficiency savings are. I back the continuing efforts of police forces to improve the efficiency of the service, but the commitment to saving 2 per cent of the total budget seems somewhat optimistic. Is that goal realistic, or just another unbelievable pledge from the SNP?

The Justice Committee is committed to monitoring the progress on efficiency savings, and the ability of the SPSA to contribute to those savings will be critical. The establishment of the SPSA in order to deliver effective support services nationally, along with benefits of scale and collaboration, was a key measure from the previous Scottish Executive to ensure that police forces had more time to concentrate on core business, and to make savings that could be reinvested to improve police services.

However, it must be ensured that the SPSA and chief officers can work together constructively so that real benefits can be delivered for the people of Scotland. The SNP needs to consider the tensions that have arisen in that area. Strathclyde, which has Scotland's largest police force, has yet to sign a service level agreement with the SPSA for forensic science services, despite the transfer of those services more than a year ago. Does the Government think that that is a problem? What progress has been made on the handover of information and communication technology services? Is it going smoothly? What is the cabinet secretary's response to the concerns that were raised by the SCDEA over its autonomy within the SPSA?

I understand that the committee heard differing views from police organisations and the Scottish Government on the scope for further civilianisation within the police force. I share the committee's reservations about the potential for further civilianisation to release significant numbers of police officers to front-line duties. Although there is definitely a place for civilians to work with the police to free up qualified officers for front-line police work, there is a point at which people expect, rightly, that criminal investigations and sensitive procedures will be carried out by fully trained police officers. That is why the Scottish Government needs to recognise that there is a need to recruit new, additional police officers. The Scottish Labour Party's manifesto did not recognise the need for extra police, and the Labour Party that is in charge south of the border would rather waste more than £5.4 billion on an unworkable identity card scheme, which will not make our communities safer. It will not tackle terrorism, fight crime, beat benefit fraud and stop illegal immigration. That money should be spent on putting more police on our streets.

Community wardens, along with other civilian police support staff, provide a valuable service, as I have said. However, more wardens, as called for in Labour's manifesto, would not be a substitute for more police and they should not be used as a cheap alternative to the recruitment of more police officers.

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Mike Pringle: Just to set John Lamont straight, the facts are that in 1999, there were 14,810 policemen in Scotland. In March 2007, when Labour and the Liberal Democrats left office-

John Lamont: They were booted out!

Mike Pringle: Fine. There were 16,234 police officers in Scotland. That is 1,424 more officers in Scotland-an 11 per cent rise over eight years. That is a commendable achievement, much of which was due to Jim Wallace as justice minister. The Scottish Conservatives claim that they are continuing their campaign for at least 1,500 extra police officers in Scotland. How can that be, when they have already been bought off by the SNP with the very loose commitment to 1,000 more police officers-which, frankly, it does not look as if we are going to get? On top of that, the Conservatives plan to complicate the roles of police board conveners with unnecessary red tape, compelling them to stand for election rather than allowing them to get on with their jobs.

We have a tripartite approach to delivering police services. Ultimately, decisions about operations should be-and are-taken by the police. That is overseen by police boards of democratically elected councillors and by the Scottish Government, which is also democratically elected. That is a perfectly reasonable level of public involvement in our police services. However, it could be argued that we need more engagement with local communities, which might involve informing people about the work of their local police and about local crime statistics so that they know what is going on.

I am pleased that the cabinet secretary is committed to more community police officers. As Bill Aitken, Paul Martin and Angela Constance said, that issue very much exercises communities. Margaret Smith and I had discussions with the new chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police about community police officers on the beat. He is committed to trying to keep community police officers in their areas for as long as possible. There is no doubt that that is what communities want. We will continue to push the Scottish Government on its commitment to create more community police officers.

Paul Martin mentioned that he does not know who his community police officer is. We are better served in Lothian-

Paul Martin: My point was that many of my constituents do not have access to information about who their local police officer is, and I want clarity about that. I am in a position to access that information.

Mike Pringle: I misunderstood what the member said. As the local MSP, and perhaps like Paul Martin, I know who all the community police officers are in my area. I agree with Paul Martin. If the information is not available on Scottish police authorities' websites, perhaps he and the other members of the Justice Committee should examine that.

I was taken with Angela Constance's comments about community police officers. I agree with everything that she said. However, I add that community police officers know who the local hoods are, who the local neds are and who the fast drivers are. They know who is likely to commit crime in their local area. As I said, the chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police is committed to keeping police officers in their communities for as long as possible.

Alex Johnstone: Before the member reaches the end of his speech, will he take the opportunity to clarify whether it is the fault of the former Liberal justice minister Jim Wallace that, even though the number of police officers increased significantly during the years of Liberal Democrat and Labour government, Grampian remained significantly underfunded?

Mike Pringle: Clearly, I do not have a great deal of knowledge about exactly what happened in Grampian-I am not a Grampian MSP. My recollection is that Jim Wallace increased funding to all police authorities throughout Scotland. It might not have been enough for the member, but Jim Wallace did give an increase throughout Scotland.

Fear of crime is often much greater than actual crime rates warrant, and there is a good story to be told about the work that is being done by our hard-working police forces. As well as ensuring that there are enough police on our streets, we must ensure that the public are aware of the good work that our police forces throughout Scotland are doing.

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