Falkirk Labour councillor Jack Redmond has attacked the latest Scottish Government cuts on police services demanding it gets proper funding.
As a member of Falkirk Council’s scrutiny committee, he was reacting to a submission from Chief Superintendent Barry Blair and Chief Inspector Linsey Kidd from the Forth Valley Police Division.
Councillor Redmond said: “Their report contained a lot of positives, with crime down in a lot of areas and a lot of examples of individual officers working on their own initiative to tackle crime in specific areas.
“However, the Scottish Government’s Resource Spending Review (RSR) published in May 2022 indicated that policing should plan for a flat cash funding settlement up until the financial year 2026-27, a departure from the Scottish Government’s commitment to real term protection of police spending.
“Real concerns were highlighted around officer numbers which have already been reduced by 634 officers this year to a historic low of 16,600, needed to address a funding gap of £50 million this year alone.”
Councillor Redmond continued: “The Scottish Police Authority and the Police Service of Scotland’s written submission to the Criminal Justice Committee show this is just the tip of the iceberg with regards to the savings which will have to be found over the next few years with the report estimating that officer numbers will need to be reduced by 2,187 with a further 707 support staff to go by 2027.
“Police Scotland is also accelerating plans to close an additional 30 police buildings and there is currently a recruitment freeze in place meaning no new officers will be trained up for the foreseeable future.
“Police Scotland has one of the lowest capital budgets per head out of the UK’s 43 police forces compounded by a £298 million funding shortfall. This means that there is not enough funds for vital new equipment, vehicles, technology and training.”
He concluded: “These reductions are completely unacceptable and put our communities at serious risk, highlighting the mess that the current SNP and Conservative governments have got our nation into. Scotland needs our police force to be funded properly!”