Police Scotland must not be subjected to the “persistent, hare-brained meddling and political vandalism” that forces in England and Wales have suffered in the past 15 years, the Scottish Government was warned today.
At the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents’ Annual Conference, President Rob Hay reminded delegates that exactly 10 years ago then-Home Secretary Theresa May famously accused the Police Federation of England and Wales of “crying wolf” as they warned of the dire consequences of policing cuts.
The Government in that period was guilty of savagely cutting policing, Rob said. He added: “A clear and indelible line can be drawn between the travails experienced today by our colleagues in England and Wales and the wilful disinvestment in policing over that time.”
Despite there being some criticism of Police Scotland, at least it allowed the worst of the cuts to be offset by the efficiencies and economies of scale of creating a national service, Rob said. And he credited the Scottish Government for “largely ignoring” the report on policing carried out by Sir Tom Winsor, who recommended reducing the starting pay for PCs. This affected police officers in England and Wales, but not those in Scotland.
But Rob warned in his speech that: “Unfortunately, as time has progressed, we in Scotland are no longer on a different trajectory to England and Wales, but just further behind on the same curve. Policing needs investment. Policing budgets have not kept pace with inflation. Talks of a ‘record policing budget’ don’t account for inflationary pressures and the policing budget has not kept pace with the demands on the service either.”
Rob urged the Scottish Government to fund the service so that officers could receive an above-inflation pay rise. He said: “Without assistance from the Scottish Government, the Chief faces the stark choice of cannibalising the service to afford to offer a pay rise that is above inflation. Simply put: reduce police numbers or reduce pay. This is a choice no Chief Constable should have to make. Our ask to the Scottish Government as an Association is, please don’t put the Chief Constable in this position.”