The decisions and choices the Government makes have a huge impact on policing. If you look back at recent years, there’s been the Winsor Review, the reform of police pensions and the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners. Particularly for our colleagues in England and Wales, these have changed the policing landscape.
The new Government has a lot of challenges ahead. Throughout the election campaign, both leading UK political parties spoke about their commitment to policing, including recruiting thousands of more officers.
From a Scottish point of view, that was missing from the discussion. In Scotland, we didn’t see an equivalent commitment around police funding or police numbers from the SNP, so whether that promise of more officers means that Scotland will get a percentage of them is unclear.
Policing needs to be a priority. The function of policing is one of the basic responsibilities of a Government – to ensure that their citizens are safe and can go about their business without fear of crime.
Politicians speak about the need to attract investment and create growth in the economy, but you can’t do that when the economy’s being held back by organised crime; you can’t do that when people don’t feel safe to go to work and seek employment. One of the basic needs of a democratic society is for safety to exist, in order that the other parts of a functioning economy can flourish.
Policing is a critical foundation for any free and open society. In order for it to work properly, we need to look closely at the range of duties that police officers have to undertake. We need to ensure they’re focused around those things that only we, as a public service, can achieve and are empowered to do, as opposed to us filling the gaps in areas like mental health provision.
The reform of policing in Scotland has delivered a significant dividend for the Scottish Government, with a £200 million annual saving. What’s not so clear from them, going forward, is what other public services will be called on to provide similar reforms and achieve similar savings. Or will it simply be a question of the police service having to go back to the well and eke out more savings from an increasingly under-pressure and challenged service?