Stop policing the internet and get back on the beat, Scotland's officers are urged

Daily Mail​

21-05-2025

Police officers need to stop 'wasting their time' probing social media posts and get back on the streets to deter crime, a senior officer said yesterday.
Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), said it was not the job of police to intervene when people were offended by posts on X and other platforms.
He said unless a crime was suspected officers should be 'nowhere near' social media and must get back into the community to prevent and fight crime.
Mr Hay has previously warned that police must be 'pacifists in the culture war' and stay away from the 'divisive, political and toxic nature of some of the debate raging in wider society '.
Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'The public are crying out for more police on the beat after years of SNP cuts to officer numbers.
'The SNP's misguided priorities have seen valuable police time taken up with laws like Humza Yousaf's reckless Hate Crime Act, which have left them unable to respond to every crime.
'Ministers should show some common sense and listen to these calls - and let officers fight crime and protect our communities.'
Mr Hay, who addressed delegates at the ASPS annual conference in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, told the Mail: 'I certainly think social media is a terrible environment where there's a lot of toxic stuff - but is it criminal?
'That is always the question that we would ask – does it reach that threshold?
'If it doesn't reach that threshold, we should be nowhere near it.
'So whether or not you are offended by a comment isn't necessarily what makes it a criminal offence.
'There's a threshold there that needs to be met and if it doesn't we should be nowhere near it – we shouldn't be wasting our time.'
Instead Mr Hay, who previously warned that police must be 'pacifists in the culture war', said there should be a renewed drive to get officers back on the beat amid concern that police have withdrawn from communities, as manpower declines and stations are shut down or sold off.
He said: 'Something that's always been distinct in Scottish policing is that we are there in communities, and visible, and we absolutely need to invest in that area.
'We need to be a service that's close to people and not simply a uniform that they see driving past once in a while.
'If we invest in that way, I think we will see a much greater dividend in terms of community confidence.
'We will see much lower levels of violence because when it's 'Rob Hay, the local community cop', it's very different from when it's just a faceless uniform that turns up - it changes your relationship with the public.
'So being present and being visible in communities is an area that is essential for government and Police Scotland to invest in.'
Last month, police chiefs were criticised by a watchdog for their handling of a row over an MSP whose mocking tweet about the Scottish Government's transgender policy was logged as a 'hate incident'.
As the Mail revealed last year, a trans activist reported Murdo Fraser's post on X, formerly Twitter, but officers decided it was not a crime and should be classed as a 'hate incident' - even though no law had been broken.
Looking at how police handled the MSP's complaints about the incident, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) said the force failed to rebut Mr Fraser's claim that he had been treated differently to JK Rowling and Humza Yousaf, the former First Minister, when they made contentious claims.
On November 18, 2023, Tory MSP Mr Fraser shared a column written by Susan Dalgety for The Scotsman, which claimed the government's non-binary equality action plan would lead to children being 'damaged by this cult'.
Commenting on the shared post, Mr Fraser said: 'Choosing to identify as 'non-binary' is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat.'
In March, there was a row after a couple south of the Border were arrested over complaints they made about their daughter's primary school, which included comments on WhatsApp.
Maxie Allen and his partner Rosalind Levine, from Borehamwood, said they were held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property.
Hertfordshire Police said the arrests 'were necessary to fully investigate the allegations' but there was 'insufficient evidence' to take any action.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Angela Constance acknowledged the 'enormity' of the challenges facing Police Scotland at a time of 'evolving threats and uncertainties'.
But she said the 'reality' was that like the rest of the public sector, policing had to operate within a 'tight fiscal environment' and that the government was investing 'what (it) can'.
She spoke after a speech by Mr Hay in which he warned of a 'risk to public safety' if the force does not get the 'investment it needs'.
Ms Constance said: 'In recent years we have seen some of the toughest financial contexts that we've faced since devolution, with the financial crash, austerity, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, and we know that there are no quick fixes, that there are only hard choices.'
Both the Justice Secretary and Chief Constable Jo Farrell, who also spoke at the event, set out a 'new model' of policing that they said would free up officers' time so they could prioritise frontline work, while also improving their wellbeing.
Among the measures described, Ms Constance said the introduction of body-worn cameras had been a 'game-changer' in reducing pressure on officers, and that a pilot summary case management project had seen 11,000 fewer officers called to give evidence in court.
In his address, the ASPS president had described policing in Scotland as being at a 'critical juncture', and asked that the Chief Constable not be forced to make the 'stark choice' between cutting pay or cutting police numbers.
He welcomed the changes and initiatives being introduced to help the force work 'smarter, not harder', but said achieving them required a 'commensurate investment'.
Mr Hay said: 'Eighty-seven per cent of our budget is on people.
'So making sure that the police officers are appropriately paid and compensated for the risks and limitations on their lifestyles as a result of the office they hold is absolutely key to making sure we've got a sustainable service, that we get really good people into policing - not just for now, but for next generation as well.'
He said the force was calling for a pay rise 'similar' to the 8 per cent awarded last week to NHS workers in Scotland.
Mr Hay said: 'I understand we're in a really challenging fiscal environment, but it's clear where the political will exists, the money can be found.'
He also warned of an impending recruitment crisis, pointing out that 'around a quarter' of officers can retire in the next five years, and that Police Scotland was 'competing for a share of a shrinking working-age population in Scotland'.