Nwicker60
22-May-12, 14:29
One cap does not fit all say north MSPs
Highlands & Islands Labour MSPs Rhoda Grant and David Stewart, have linked up with a team from UNISON, representing police civilian staff in the Highlands, Islands & Moray, in an effort to reassure staff who are worried by proposed changes which will be implemented with the creation of a single Scottish Police Force.
Speaking this morning, Rhoda Grant said “ We are not against a single police force for Scotland, indeed we support such a move. However what Scottish Labour had in mind was the one Force with local accountability and different priorities for different areas. One cap does not fit all. I understand that the main priority of the new Force is reducing serious and violent crime. This objective and action is commendable, but in parts of North West Sutherland or in Skye or in Moray, is serious and violent crime the issue, or is it quality of life issues such as vandalism and anti social behaviour”?
She continued “ The two areas that concern us are
job losses and
reduction in service
In response to any queries made with the Scottish Government, we are advised that these issues are ones for the Reform Team. In response to queries we have made to the Reform Team, we are advised these are issues for the single Police Authority or the new Chief Constable. I understand that we are in unchartered waters, but the confusion about roles, priorities, policies and accountability have come about because the Scottish Government are going too quickly and don’t appear capable of taking on board new information or circumstances that are important to us all”.
Northern Constabulary UNISON Lead Steward, Frank Winston said “Michelle Brady and I met with Rhoda Grant today in Inverness and had very positive and constructive discussions meeting. It is vitally important that we try and get answers from the Government to allay the fears of a lot of police civilian staff and try and secure a quality police service for the public of North and North East of Scotland”.
The new team have set up a web site www.singlepoliceforce.org.uk (http://www.singlepoliceforce.org.uk/) with the latest information thereon. There is also an on-line petition which will allow members of the public to sign the petition offering their support to the work of this group.
To get a better picture UNISON Scotland undertook a survey of a random sample of UNISON members employed in police boards in Scotland. This survey shows that around 53% of the 1000 police staff posts which have already gone are being covered in part or in full by police officers. That means around 500 police officers are now not out on the street fighting crime for part of the time they used to be. If you extrapolate this to the future staffing plan it would suggest up to 2,000 officers could, at least in part, be taken off operational duties. We accept that extrapolation from survey data is not a precise calculation, but it does give an indication of the scale of loss – one police officer lost in this way would be one too many. Remember that we already have hundreds of police officers undertaking roles that elsewhere in the UK would be done more efficiently by police civilian staff.
UNISON Scotland Head of bargaining and campaigns Dave Watson said, “The fixation on maintaining numbers of uniformed officers while slashing budgets everywhere else wastes money and does nothing to keep people safe. Scottish police forces are already less specialised with lower levels of civilianisation than those in England. If current trends are carried on into the proposed single police force we will see anything up to 2000 police officers spending some or all of their time off operational duties. It’s the wrong approach in terms of public safety - and makes no sense economically”
Highlands & Islands Labour MSPs Rhoda Grant and David Stewart, have linked up with a team from UNISON, representing police civilian staff in the Highlands, Islands & Moray, in an effort to reassure staff who are worried by proposed changes which will be implemented with the creation of a single Scottish Police Force.
Speaking this morning, Rhoda Grant said “ We are not against a single police force for Scotland, indeed we support such a move. However what Scottish Labour had in mind was the one Force with local accountability and different priorities for different areas. One cap does not fit all. I understand that the main priority of the new Force is reducing serious and violent crime. This objective and action is commendable, but in parts of North West Sutherland or in Skye or in Moray, is serious and violent crime the issue, or is it quality of life issues such as vandalism and anti social behaviour”?
She continued “ The two areas that concern us are
job losses and
reduction in service
In response to any queries made with the Scottish Government, we are advised that these issues are ones for the Reform Team. In response to queries we have made to the Reform Team, we are advised these are issues for the single Police Authority or the new Chief Constable. I understand that we are in unchartered waters, but the confusion about roles, priorities, policies and accountability have come about because the Scottish Government are going too quickly and don’t appear capable of taking on board new information or circumstances that are important to us all”.
Northern Constabulary UNISON Lead Steward, Frank Winston said “Michelle Brady and I met with Rhoda Grant today in Inverness and had very positive and constructive discussions meeting. It is vitally important that we try and get answers from the Government to allay the fears of a lot of police civilian staff and try and secure a quality police service for the public of North and North East of Scotland”.
The new team have set up a web site www.singlepoliceforce.org.uk (http://www.singlepoliceforce.org.uk/) with the latest information thereon. There is also an on-line petition which will allow members of the public to sign the petition offering their support to the work of this group.
To get a better picture UNISON Scotland undertook a survey of a random sample of UNISON members employed in police boards in Scotland. This survey shows that around 53% of the 1000 police staff posts which have already gone are being covered in part or in full by police officers. That means around 500 police officers are now not out on the street fighting crime for part of the time they used to be. If you extrapolate this to the future staffing plan it would suggest up to 2,000 officers could, at least in part, be taken off operational duties. We accept that extrapolation from survey data is not a precise calculation, but it does give an indication of the scale of loss – one police officer lost in this way would be one too many. Remember that we already have hundreds of police officers undertaking roles that elsewhere in the UK would be done more efficiently by police civilian staff.
UNISON Scotland Head of bargaining and campaigns Dave Watson said, “The fixation on maintaining numbers of uniformed officers while slashing budgets everywhere else wastes money and does nothing to keep people safe. Scottish police forces are already less specialised with lower levels of civilianisation than those in England. If current trends are carried on into the proposed single police force we will see anything up to 2000 police officers spending some or all of their time off operational duties. It’s the wrong approach in terms of public safety - and makes no sense economically”