We must be exempted from cuts, warn police

Published on Sunday 29 August 2010 15:43

POLICE are to urge justice minister Kenny MacAskill to ringfence their budgets and protect them from savage cuts - or prepare for a rise in serious crime.

Les Gray, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, will warn the minister that cutting police numbers will be a false economy because the rising cost of crime could outweigh any savings.

Strathclyde Police estimates it has saved 26 million by bringing its murder rate down. Each murder investigation costs an average of 1m.

Rising crime also has an economic impact on other services, such as the hospitals who treat victims, and on the businesses and individuals affected.

At present, Scottish police forces are looking at estimated budget cuts of up to 25 per cent over four years. The federation has said this will amount to 88m, although the actual figure will not be known until after the UK and Scottish governments' autumn spending reviews.

Mr Gray, who is meeting Mr MacAskill next Monday, said: "Ultimately it's up to him. All we can do is put across the point that if these cuts go through, at the levels we've been told, then the people of Scotland will suffer.

"We are looking for the police budget to be protected. We don't believe everyone has to take a hit.

"Unlike other services, when crime goes up everyone suffers - the victims, whether it's property or a person, house prices, the NHS, the court service, insurance rates. It's all connected.

"Strathclyde saved 26m. That's not by accident; if you reduce crime, people don't become victims. That's the most important thing - and secondly is the money saved. These cuts are a false economy. So (police budgets] should be ring-fenced, absolutely."

Strathclyde Police has announced plans to cut 600 officers and 200 civilians, with 194 officers and 180 support staff set to go at Central, and a further 62 officers and 138 civilians in the firing line at Dumfries and Galloway.

Scotland's five other forces are yet to put a figure on how many police personnel will go, but the federation believes it could eventually reach 2,800, which would leave the police less able to prevent crime.

Mr Gray said: "Serious crime will undoubtedly increase. That's not me scaremongering - history has shown when police numbers fall, crime increases.

"It's an inconvenience if the grass only gets cut once a month or your bins only get emptied twice a month, but it's a major problem if you become a victim of crime."

However, Victim Support Scotland says it supported job cuts, even if they led to more people being targeted by criminals. A spokesman said: "If there are fewer police on the beat, the potential for more crime is higher, and that's a natural concern.But there's a recognition that we are working in an almost unprecedented time where everyone has to face the prospect of cuts. Our only hope is that the number of cuts to the bobbies on the beat is minimal and in the intervening period the economy will redeem itself."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it provided record levels of police funding this year of 1.4 billion - a 20 per cent rise since 2006-7. "There are already more than 1,000 additional police officers in Scotland since this government came into office, which has helped reduce recorded crime to a 30-year low.

"Chief constables and local police authorities are taking decisions based on the current economic climate and not on a set budget. We will not know what any police force's budget is until after the UK spending review is announced on 20 October and Scotland's budget is published in the following weeks.

"Our priority is protecting front-line services - the Westminster cuts also make it imperative that Scotland secures economic powers and financial responsibility, so that we can change our present circumstances, boost economic growth and generate additional tax revenues to invest in our public services."