Justice minister Kenny ­MacAskill joins police on patrol in Glasgow

Justice secretary Kenny ­MacAskill joined police officers on street patrols in Glasgow yesterday as he visited a unit helping to reduce violent crime in the city.

Mr MacAskill met with senior officers from Strathclyde Police at Govan police station to be briefed on the work of the force’s flexible policing unit, before joining a patrol. The unit was set up to reduce violence, robberies and serious assaults.

It has seen a 26.3 per cent reduction in violent crimes, a 25.9 per cent reduction in robberies and a 23.7 per cent drop in serious assaults in less than four months.

The unit rapidly deploys officers into areas where there appears to be an emerging trend, period of sustained violence or other issue, and will carry out intensive patrols of problematic areas. It also targets habitual and violent offenders over a prolonged period of time through daily or weekly visits to their homes, and officers provide street briefings to local residents.

Mr MacAskill said: “We are making progress in our efforts to reduce crime in Scotland, with latest figures showing that recorded crime has fallen to a 37-year low through over 1,000 extra police officers on our streets.”