First minister Nicola Sturgeon was last night told to “get a grip” as the Scottish Government came under fire for its “woeful” record on police reform.
Opposition politicians criticised the SNP for failing to heed warnings over plans to centralise police call centres.
The government was also urged to abandon the planned closures altogether – rather than just suspend them temporarily.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson demanded to know why ministers had ignored warnings on call centres for more than 18 months.
“In two years the Scottish Government’s record on police reform is woeful,” she said.
“Call centres cut to the bone with tragic consequences, a stop and search policy that may not even be legal and a hand-picked police chief who has walked away from it all.
“The first minister needs to get a grip.”
Labour North East MSP Lewis Macdonald urged the justice secretary to desert the control room reform programme completely.
He said the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s report did not comment on the policy decision to close control rooms, “only on how badly it has been done”.
He added: “The decision to close is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, yet Michael Matheson and his SNP colleagues seem to be happy to pass the buck for this decision to anyone but themselves.
“The only way to resolve this resourcing problem is to recruit more staff, and the only way to recruit more staff is to give prospective employees job security by scrapping the closure plans.
“Michael Matheson has showed that is he not listening to the people of Aberdeen and the north-east who have said loud and clear that they want local police services retained.”
Police Scotland admitted it still had work to do to improve call centre responses in the north.
Assistant Chief Constable Val Thomson said: “Plans are already in place that respond to the issues identified in the HMICS interim review.
She added: “We have more work to do in the north as we move towards our remodelling, but are grateful for the support being provided through the HMICS inspection to identify areas for development as well as opportunities for the future.”
The force has said the newly allocated £1.4million will not reduce its funding gap as it has been assigned specifically to improve call handling.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The HMICS interim report recommends the control room reform programme is completed – but only once a number of other measures are implemented.”