UN wrong to brand Scotland most violent country - police chief

SCOTLAND'S most senior police officer yesterday rejected a UN report that claimed the country was the most violent in the developed world.

The crime survey of 21 countries said Scots were nearly three times more likely to be the victims of violent assaults than people living in the United States. More than 2,000 Scots are attacked every week, according to the research - almost ten times the official police figures.

But Chief Constable Peter Wilson, president of ACPOS, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, questioned the methodology of the study, which was based on telephone interviews and used data that was five years old.

He said: "Many other properly researched surveys put Scotland at the top for a country where people want to come because of the high quality of life.

"I would question the compatibility of figures and the methods used in this particular survey because it must be near-impossible to compare assault figures from one country to the next based on phonecalls."

The UN's crime research institute survey found 3 per cent of Scots had been victims of assault, compared with 1.2 per cent in America, 0.1 per cent in Japan, 0.2 per cent in Italy and 0.8 per cent in Austria. England and Wales had the second-highest number of assaults at 2.8 per cent.

The report follows figures from Strathclyde Police in July which found knife crime in the west of Scotland was nearly four times higher the rest of the UK.

Mr Wilson conceded there was a problem but said Strathclyde's Violent Crime Reduction Strategy Unit was at the forefront of looking at solutions to "booze and blades" culture.

SNP justice spokesman Kenny MacAskill said: "We have to get things in perspective - Scotland's not Baghdad.

"But there are a number of hot-spots where we have drink, drugs and deprivation. And until this Executive lives up to Tony Blair's mantra, which was that Labour would be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, we won't address it."

The Executive said ministers were already cracking down. First Minister Jack McConnell unveiled plans this month to double the maximum penalty for knife-carrying to four years and raise the minimum age for buying a blade to 18.