SNP breaks promise on more police

Published on Saturday 23 August 2008 22:07

THE SNP Government is failing on a key election pledge to put hundreds more police officers on the streets of Scotland.

Ministers promised to recruit an extra 150 officers by April this year but figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday show they have already fallen 53 short of that target.

Chief Constables were given an extra 580,000 to fill the posts but at least one force admitted last night it had spent some of the cash poaching experienced police officers from other Scottish forces.

Critics of the Government last night claimed the SNP's plan was in crisis and it would fail to deliver on its long-term target of 1,000 extra officers.

Last night, both First Minister Alex Salmond and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill were fending off allegations of misleading Parliament after telling MSPs they had recruited the extra officers.

The row centres on the SNP pledge at last year's election to bring an extra 1,000 officers on to the streets, boosting numbers to 17,000. The recruitment last year of 150 extra officers was the first move towards that pledge.

In a Holyrood debate in April, MacAskill told MSPs they would be "glad to know that we managed to deliver 150 additional officers by the end of the previous financial year. The Government is on the case and is delivering".

In May, in a statement to Parliament, Salmond declared: "We are increasing police presence on our streets, with 150 additional officers recruited in our first year."

However, the Scottish Police Services Authority – the body which runs Scotland's police training college in Tulliallan, Fife – has confirmed that they are 53 officers short.

Labour's shadow community safety minister Paul Martin said: "Where are these phantom police officers? Have they ever existed or did they simply disappear into the Bermuda Triangle along with the rest of the SNP's election pledges?

"We expect the First Minister to make a statement to MSPs explaining why he has apparently misled Parliament. Or perhaps he would rather that Kenny MacAskill face the music – after all, both of them have made the same claim that they paid for and recruited 150 new officers."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government last night insisted that ministers had met their side of the bargain by handing 579,000 – as promised – to Scotland's eight forces to pay for the initial recruitment stage.

He said any shortfall in actual numbers was due to the decisions of individual chief constables who have operational command over their individual areas. "We undertook to deliver 150 additional officers in 2007-8 and that is what we did. The number of officers recruited by the forces themselves and decisions on how many to recruit are strictly a matter for individual chief constables," he said.

Tayside Police last night admitted that it had spent the cash into other areas. Some of the funding was spent taking officers from other Scottish forces to boost their numbers.

Recruitment manager Paul Cairnie said:

"We didn't need half as many (recruits] that we thought at first. We also took six transferees from other forces which allows us to get officers on the beat a lot quicker. They are new officers to us."

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland suggested forces might not have been able to find enough officers of the right calibre. A spokesman claimed many fail basic language, maths and fitness tests, are too young, too old or have only recently moved to the UK.

He said: "Some applicants will not complete this rigorous process; hence, the number of probationary officers who end up attending the college may be lower than projected."

The row is the latest to hit the SNP's key manifesto pledge to recruit the extra officers. MacAskill at first lowered the target to 500 but later returned to the original figure in a deal brokered with the Tories. But despite the promise of extra investment, officer numbers have continued to fall due to retirals.

In March 2008, there were 45 fewer police in Scotland compared to 12 months earlier.