SNP slammed as number of police officers cut by 1,000 over five years

Yahoo

6 hours ago

The Scottish Government have been accused of 'hollowing out Police Scotland' as new figures show the number of police officers in Scotland has plummeted in recent years.
The total number of police officers has also fallen sharply the past five years, declining by 1,000 after reaching a high of just over 17,400 at the beginning of 2020.
However, the numbers show a marginal increase on 2024, where full-time police officers dropped to a 16-year low of just over 16,200.
Labour MSP Pauline McNeil has spoken out. (Image: PA) Pauline McNeil MSP, Scottish Labour's Justice spokesperson in Holyrood has accused the Scottish Government of 'blowing apart Scots' basic right to have a crime reported and responded to quickly."
Ms McNeil added: 'Police Scotland is already stretched to breaking point and communities often feel that police response times are becoming unacceptably long.
'The SNP's failure to protect police officer numbers has blown apart Scots' basic right to have a crime reported and responded to quickly.
'Each time these figures come out we see more evidence of the SNP's neglect and its failure to protect Scotland's police force or retain an effective policing model.
'The SNP has hollowed out Police Scotland over recent years, forcing police officers and staff to go above and beyond to paper over the cracks.
'The SNP cannot keep playing fast and loose with the safety of our communities – a Scottish Labour government will support policing and make sure our country has the police officers it needs.'
Joani Reid, the newly-elected [[Scottish Labour]] Party MP for East Kilbride and Straven said the figures were 'hugely disappointing."
She added: "Cutting police numbers is a false economy, adding to overtime bills and placing more strain on officers still in post. It's another sign of how the [[SNP]] government in Edinburgh has lost its way.
"Instead of their forever war over another divisive independence referendum SNP ministers should be focusing on things that really matter to people: like stopping crime and arresting and convicting offenders.
'But all week long we've just seen one SNP figure after another argue about the constitution. Public services are very obviously not their top priority despite that being literally what they are paid to care about."
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Ms Reid added: "The SNP aren't concentrating on what matters to ordinary folk because they are stuck in a 2014 referendum time warp. The rest of Scotland has moved on but they haven't.
"My constituents want action on knife crime, on drug deaths, on child sexual exploitation - all things where a cut in police numbers is absolutely the wrong way to go.
"The SNP are out of energy, out of ideas and really should be out of office."
In a statement, Justice Secretary Angela Constance said:
'We are investing a record £1.64 billion for policing this year, and our continued investment enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in the last financial year than at any time since 2013.
"There has been a further intake of recruits since this statistical reporting period and more intakes are planned this year.
'Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales and recorded crime has fallen by more than half since 1991.'