In dangerous times, Police Scotland must be properly resourced

As new figures showed the number of officers in Police Scotland in June hit the lowest level since March 2007, shortly before the SNP took power, Justice Secretary Angela Constance said she was “disappointed” as if she was an onlooker, rather than the minister in charge.

On June 30, there were 16,207 full-time equivalent officers, down 392 since the same date last year. New recruits have since joined their ranks and more are coming. However the Scottish Police Federation warned that additional burdens being placed on officers “on a consistent basis” were undoubtedly adding to the number of people off sick.

The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens and the police form part of the frontline charged with that task. With lives potentially at stake, they need to be properly resourced to do the at-times dangerous job that the public asks them to do. If anyone is in any doubt, they only need look at the bravery displayed by officers as they confront far-right rioters in other parts of the UK and prevent innocent people from coming to harm.