Donald Trump’s forthcoming visit to Scotland will “undoubtedly stretch” police resources, the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents has said.
The US president plans to stay in Scotland from 25-29 July. He will visit his Scottish golf courses, meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Aberdeen and have talks with Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney.
There are expected to be major protests across the country, including from the Stop Trump Coalition, which is organising a ‘festival of resistance’.
Trump’s last visit as president, in July 2018, prompted large-scale protests in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, which cost Police Scotland more than £3 million and required mutual aid from other UK forces.
Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, President of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), said that with superintending ranks at their lowest levels in recent memory, ASPS is concerned about the capacity and resilience of its members, particularly in times of high demand such as this summer, when leave has been cancelled.
Rob said: “The private visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland at the end of July will require the Police Service of Scotland to plan for and deliver a significant operation across the country over many days. This will undoubtedly stretch all our resources from local policing divisions to specialist and support functions such as contact, command and control.”
He continued: “Police Superintendents and Chief Superintendents will be the backbone of the command structures, with many of our members taking on key leadership roles for planning and resourcing, intelligence gathering, command and control communications, armed operations, public order, and other specialist functions.”
Rob called for the public to be aware of the “significant demands that will be placed on policing services during this period, not only by President Trump’s visit, but also by the many popular events that Scotland hosts in the summer months, which bring thousands of tourists to our country and rely upon partnerships with policing to support their safe delivery”.
Meanwhile the General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, David Kennedy, has said that Trump’s visit is “ a recipe for disaster”, adding: “We don’t have enough cops.”
He said the visit will mean police holidays and rest days would be cancelled, with many officers working 12-hour shifts. He said: “With this event, it is survival mode. That’s the mentality that will set in.
“All this costs money and Police Scotland’s budget is already bust. Everybody working longer hours and days has a knock-on effect for months, if not years.”