Policing and Scotland's Mental Health Crisis

That the Parliament understands that recently reported statistics indicate that Scotland's police officers are having to deal with almost 700 mental health-related incidents every single day; notes that between April and October 2025, Police Scotland officers responded to 122,735 incidents, which represents one in five of all incidents police officers attend; further notes that only 15% of these calls involve criminality and that all of this comes at a time when police officer numbers have reportedly fallen by over 1000 since 2013; believes that expecting police officers to fill the gap of struggling and under pressure mental health and NHS services is neither credible nor desirable and is placing a huge strain on an already stretched police service, and calls on the Scottish Government and Police Scotland to take immediate action to address the mental health crisis by restoring community policing that is properly funded and locally accountable, reversing non-attendance policies for core incidents affecting safety and vulnerability, compelling community planning partners to adopt a multi-agency approach to community safety and prioritising psychological wellbeing as a core operational requirement.