Yahoo News Scottish police demand extra £128m as crime rates soar
Crime rates in Scotland have escalated to record levels and police are taking twice as long to solve them than four years ago, according to a report.
The warnings will be presented by Police Scotland’s Chief Financial Officer on Thursday at a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority in Edinburgh.
It states that the national police force needs £128 million to “buy time” to implement efficiency savings over the next three years that will not involve job losses. The report states bluntly that if budget requirements are not secured “there will be internal and external reputational implications for policing”.
The report states that the average number of days to detect crimes has increased year on year – doubling from 16.43 in 2018-19 to 33.83 in 2022-23 – amid a steady rise in rates of violent crime, fraud and theft.
Comparing crime rates recorded between April and October against the five-year average, the report warns that car thefts and common assaults are at their highest levels.
It states that crimes of robbery and assault with intent to rob were up 22.4 per cent while threats and extortion, driven by an overall increase of online-based crime, have risen by an average of 326 offences each year since 2019.
Fraud offences are up 37.2 per cent against the five-year average and shoplifting offences since the coronavirus pandemic are up 42 per cent.
‘Catastrophic’ cuts to force
The admission undermines boasts by SNP ministers that they have overseen a drop in crime to the lowest levels in decades.
David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said last month that the reality was that “catastrophic” cuts meant in many cases people have to wait days for a response, and many are no longer reporting crimes to Police Scotland.
The force warned in September that it could be forced to shed 2,000 jobs, close stations and scrap a promise by Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, to give all officers bodycams.
Senior officers told MSPs it will have to cut 600 officers and 200 staff by April next year if it is given a flat-cash budget settlement, with compulsory redundancies on the cards. The job losses would surge to 2,070 over the next four years.
The latest report states that the creation of a single national police service in April 2013 has saved public finances £2 billion by removing over £200 million from the annual cost base compared to legacy arrangements.
Amid ongoing pressure from the Scottish Government for efficiency savings across the public sector, the report warns that “it is not possible for policing to deliver substantial savings for a second time through efficiency alone”.
An extra £128 million in funding is needed over the next three years to help the single force to “reshape and resize”, adding that this should be seen as a “spend-to-save proposal” as the investment would enable policing to move into the next phase of reform and continue to contribute to the redesign of the wider criminal justice sector.
It warns that without the additional funding, “further workforce reductions will be necessary”.
