More than 800 police officers in Scotland tested for Covid-19 with 163 positive results

More than 800 police officers in Scotland were tested for coronavirus and 163 returned positive results, according to the latest official figures.

Details about the policing response to Covid-19 have been published in a paper to be discussed by the Scottish Police Authority on Wednesday.

The report also revealed the number of staff having to self-isolate, shield or having displayed virus symptoms resulted in a peak absence rate of 3,745 on March 29th. Since then, there has been a steady increase of people returning to work but absence levels are still "slightly higher" than they should be with 1,486 off as of May 7th.

More than 800 Police Scotland staff have been tested, according to the latest report to the Scottish Police Authority.

As of April 29th, 827 Police Scotland employees had been tested for coronavirus and 163 of them tested positive. It is not clear if these cases all resulted directly from frontline duties.

The report says: "Further work is in progress with Scottish Government and staff associations to establish if the testing regime can be extended for Police Scotland in recognition of some of the unique challenges faced by officers and staff."

According to their website, Police Scotland has a workforce of 23,000 officers and staff.

Minority communities engaged

The report also says that, at present, more than 11,000 frontline officers and staff have been trained and equipped or re-supplied with the necessary PPE.

As of May 7th, £9.48 million has been spent on Police Scotland's response to Covid-19. This includes goods ordered (and yet to be received), such as PPE, and overtime.

Figures for the end of April also show officers engaged with the public 19,000 times in relation to lockdown restrictions, with enforcement action taken in 10 per cent of cases - mainly fines.

The report says: "Officers and staff continue to apply common sense and engage in a friendly and courteous manner and enforcement action is only taken where efforts to engage, explain and encourage have been exhausted."

Edinburgh and Greater Glasgow police divisions are also engaging minority communities with the rules in relevant languages to improve understanding of the legislation.

The paper also says officers are continuing to work closely with potentially targeted community groups, including Chinese and East-Asian people, after it became apparent in the early stages of the police response that they were "increasingly likely" to be the victims of hate crime.