The SPF fear police numbers in many force areas could drop to levels not seen since the mid-1990s The union which represents Scotland’s police officers is to hold a summit with senior politicians from the main parties to discuss policing priorities.
The meeting was called by the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which has warned the police budget for 2011-12 could be cut by as much as £88.5m.
The SPF said this was the equivalent of losing 2,808 officers in Scotland.
First Minister Alex Salmond recently unveiled plans to reduce the number of forces in the face of spending cuts.
Mr Salmond told the SNP party conference that, if it came to it, he would put “bobbies before boundaries”.
The SPF fear a projected 9% drop in the policing budget, which could mean police numbers in many force areas dropping to levels not seen since the mid-1990s.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will attend the SPF meeting in Glasgow on Monday along with Labour’s justice spokesman Richard Baker, Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown and Conservative MSP Bill Aitken.
In their invitation to the summit ahead of the draft Scottish Budget to be unveiled next month, the police body wrote that the police service was “too important to be expected to take an equal share of the pain”.
“Cutting the numbers of serving officers would be a false economy that would set Scotland back by decades”
Calum Steele SPF General Secretary
The SPF also said it believed the decisions taken in the next Scottish Budget “could either maintain or break policing in Scotland as we know it”.
The general secretary of the SPF, Calum Steele, said he welcomed the opportunity to engage with representatives from the four main parties.
He said: “There has already been a very constructive debate on the issues raised over the past few weeks in terms of what sort of policing should be delivered for Scotland. Now is the time to continue and to sharpen that debate.”
Mr Steele said the SPF was “very willing” to discuss ways of streamlining the police service, including the amalgamation of forces, if that could be shown to deliver the highest policing service to communities.
He added: “If savings are a consequence, then all well and good but the quality of the service must come first.
“However, cutting the numbers of serving officers would be a false economy that would set Scotland back by decades. Crime levels would increase, as would the fear and cost of crime, and there would [be] a knock-on effect on the National Health Service, the courts, social work and other agencies.”
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