Lack of Front-line Police Officers

That the Parliament notes the concerns expressed by Norrie Flowers, Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, that new duties imposed on police forces “have taken police officers away from the front line” and that this has resulted in a situation where “there are not enough community beat officers and our response officers are seriously overstretched, running from call to call with little time to do other than record complaints and file them”; believes that, in many areas, the lack of front-line police officers has resulted in a public loss of confidence in the police service and a feeling in many communities that there is no point in reporting crimes as the police will not attend; considers that to resolve these problems police forces must continue to work in partnership with communities and must have sufficient officers to respond to and deal effectively with all calls for assistance, however minor, when the calls are received; believes that this will not be achievable until the Scottish Executive accepts that, while there may be more serving police officers today than in previous years, more officers are also now seconded to specialist services and that, therefore, there are actually fewer police officers on the streets responding to the needs of the people of Scotland, and calls for police authorities and joint boards to be provided with sufficient funding to allow chief constables to ensure that enough front-line police officers are employed to fully support local communities and tackle all levels of crime as it occurs.