£74m Police Budget Cut Will Make Communities Less Safe
2nd July 2023
UNISON, the union for police staff, says Scotland's police budget cut will see even more crime going unreported and crimes not being fully investigated.
The union says around 230 police staff could be cut, including fingerprint examiners, forensic examiners, 999 call handlers, custody staff, high-speed driving instructors, cybercrime experts, payroll, HR and IT staff.
UNISON say 999 call response times will take longer, forensic teams will be unavailable to attend crime scenes and officers will be unable to respond to emergencies because they've not been able to take specialist training.
UNISON Scotland Police Staff deputy branch secretary David Malcolm said: "We cannot accept wholesale cuts to our members’ jobs. We’ve been here before and it has not worked.
"The demand for staff is already beyond what one person can achieve in a 35-hour working week and fewer staff means a greater risk to the public, our communities and the detection and solving of crime. To keep people safe we need to pay people properly and we need the right number of people working to provide these vital services."
UNISON Scotland regional organiser Deborah Clarke said: “These unsustainable government cuts will set back policing years. Scotland’s First Minister must sit down with the police authority and unions and put together a plan for policing, so we can provide the modern police services our communities deserve."
UNISON is the public services union representing 150,000 members in local government, health, education, police staff, social care, energy, and water. UNISON members work in public, voluntary and private sectors.
The cuts were approved at the Police Authority Police annual budget meeting earlier this year. The papers state that Scotland will see cuts to police officers and police staff will see a “reduction in posts proportionate to the reduction in police officer posts.”You can read the SPA budget report here: https://www.spa.police.uk/spa-media/hwmmihe3/item-7-spa-budget.pdf
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