Think tank says Scottish police solving fewer crimes

Reform Scotland’s new report, The Thinning Blue Line, shows that the number of crimes being cleared up per FTE police officer fell from 12 in 2006/07 to 8 in 2013/14.

The total number of cleared up cases fell by 30 per cent between 2006/07 and 2013/14, from 198,985 to 139,306, while officer numbers rose over the same period from 16,234 to 17,295.

However, recorded crime rates also fell 35 per cent over the same time period and the overall rate of solving crimes increased from 47 per cent to 51 per cent.

The report claims that the lower rate of solved crimes per police officer is due to officers spending more time covering work previously carried out by civilian staff.

In its main findings, the report questions the Scottish government’s commitment to recruiting another 1,000 extra officers, suggesting it would be a “political” decision rather than a pragmatic one.

It proposes a means of “injecting localism back into policing in Scotland” instead, by introducing divisional commanders for all 32 local authority areas and reinstating a 50/50 funding split between local and central government.

The think tank describes itself as independent and non-party, but rooted in “the traditional Scottish principles of limited government, diversity and personal responsibility”.

Alison Payne, Reform Scotland’s research director, said: “The figures speak for themselves.

“The number of police officers has increased yet fewer crimes are being solved.

“It has been suggested that police officers have to carry out duties previously carried out by civilian staff, which would certainly help explain this situation.

“After all, it is not just the number of police officers that is important, but how they are deployed.

“As a result we would urge the Scottish government to review the 1,000 extra officers pledge to ensure that the policy is delivering value for taxpayers’ money.

“Staff deployment should be an operational, as opposed to a political, decision.”

She also attacked the centralisation of police forces under Police Scotland in 2013, which she said does “not offer the necessary flexibility to deal with regional and local differences”.