North-east policing is a “shadow” of the service it once was after local police officer numbers shrunk by TWICE the national rate, a former officer said.
The latest available figures revealed 144 fewer officers dedicated to roles including community, response, and road policing across the region compared with eight years ago.
The Quarter Three data, published every September 30, showed a 12% drop in local police officers – known as divisional resources – across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.
It was the highest percentage decrease by all but two of Police Scotland’s 13 divisions between 2017 and 2024 – twice the national average.
Divisional resources, from which officer numbers have fallen, include Criminal Investigation Departments (CIDs) and public protection units that investigate rape and domestic abuse.
A former police officer, who asked not to be named, told The Press and Journal: “What I see, is a shadow of the police service it used to be.”
‘Police Scotland has developed into a fire brigade police service’
The now-retired policeman said that local police officer numbers “are not there in the same way as they used to be”.
He added: “It’s simply because Police Scotland has developed into a fire brigade police service that attends incident after incident – putting out fires – instead of proactively preventing them in the first place.
“It’s not attuned to communities’ needs as it once was.”
We put the retired officer’s comments to Police Scotland, who said they had hired 80 new cops and were hiring 20 more soon.
However, when we asked them to point to where those officers were mentioned in their own statistics, they did not.
Police chiefs said officers are now able to spend more time on the beat as they can file crime reports on mobile devices rather than having to go back to the office.
The ex-policeman also issued a warning about what he referred to as a growing gap in community intelligence.
“Intelligence in its simplest form is speaking to people and getting a sense of the mood in a community and where potential difficulties may arise – who’s responsible for drunk driving, who’s responsible for local drug dealing, who’s the source of angst in the community,” he explained.
“Because police officers are not in these communities in the same numbers, they’re just not getting that picture in the same way as they used to.
“The need not to underestimate the potential for things to go wrong by losing vital community intelligence is critical to ensuring community safety.”
Local police officer resources ‘supplemented by resources at regional and national level’
The Press and Journal used the latest Police Scotland personnel data to investigate changes in local police officer numbers, excluding those officers not dedicated to a division’s everyday use.
Local police officer resources are “supplemented by specialist resources at a regional and national level” which each division “has access to”, according to Police Scotland.
That includes 599 officers in roles that include major investigation teams and armed policing units shared by the north-east, Highlands and Islands and Tayside divisions.
A further 1,665 officers work across the whole of Scotland, including a national rape investigation unit and one focused on human trafficking, as well as air support and mounted units.
A change in the leadership of the north-east division went unannounced towards the end of this year, with Chief Superintendent Graeme Mackie retiring and his predecessor Ch Supt Kate Stephen returning to the post.
‘In the north-east we had 80 new officers start in 2024,’ police claim
The P&J asked Police Scotland to “comment on the falling local police officer numbers in North East Division,” adding that “regional and national resources numbers have not been included” in our comparison as “the story is focused on local police officers (community policing, response, etc.).”
The new north-east divisional commander responded: “The Chief Constable has been clear that strengthening and protecting frontline policing is a priority for Police Scotland and we’ve outlined plans to recruit over 1,300 officers in 2024/2025 across the country as a whole.
“In the north-east we had 80 new officers start in 2024. Our next intake will see 20 officers start in the division in January 2025.”
However, this newspaper could only find 79 genuinely new officers who were not replacements for leavers between the fourth quarter last year and the third quarter this year – and the official Police Scotland data had recorded all of those as regional or national resources – not local officers dedicated to the North East Division.
The webpage explains the force has “a core complement of officers who are always dedicated locally to community and response policing,” adding bosses can “additionally draw on specialist expertise and resources to support local policing wherever and whenever they are needed”.
The latest police numbers report explains, “Local police officer resources are the core complement of officers … and include community policing, response policing and divisional road policing teams”.
It adds: “Local police officer resources are supplemented by specialist resources at a regional and national level which each commander has access to” – including major investigation teams, armed policing units, a national rape investigation unit and one focused on human trafficking, as well as air support and mounted units.
Police Scotland was asked to clarify its claim that “the north-east … had 80 new officers start in 2024” and replied: “The 80 referred to are all local divisional resources”.
Local police officer numbers up across Highlands and Islands
In her earlier statement, Chief Superintendent Kate Stephen added: “We are committed to maintaining a strong community policing presence in the region and want to make sure the north-east is a safe place to live and work.
“Thanks to the roll-out of mobile devices officers are spending more time out and about responding to calls, carrying out patrols and speaking to local people.
“Recruitment will continue and we look forward to being part of Police Scotland’s overall plan to develop a sustainable and effective operating model and modernised workforce which prioritises our frontline and delivers for everyone.”
Across the Highlands and Islands division, local police officer numbers increased by six or 0.93% from 642 in September 2017 to 648 in September earlier this year.
It joined Dumfries and Galloway, where local police officer numbers went up by 13 or 3.68% in the same period, as being the only two divisions that experienced increases.
The Quarter Four ‘Police Scotland Officer & Staff Numbers’ report containing the latest data will be published in three days on December 31.
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