Rookie police officers deployed to front lines during COP26

Trainee police officers with just three weeks of training were deployed on the frontline during the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

According to the Scottish Police Federation’s 1919 magazine, 140 officers were sent to the climate summit while others supported policing elsewhere in the country. 

Normally, probationary officers have 12 weeks of training before deployment.

Deputy Chief Officer David Page, told the magazine: "The majority were sent to our local policing divisions and departments around the country and were tasked with assisting business as usual, while others were deployed to work specifically at COP26," he said.

"This is not the first instance of deploying probationers to assist with major policing operations, as a number of probationers were deployed last year to assist in the early stages of our response to the coronavirus pandemic."

He said the trainees had received training in core policing skills and were paired with experienced officers.

However, one female probationer told the publication she had been spat at and abused, and sent to a sudden death, despite not having the requisite training. 

The rookie told 1919: “We had stopped someone which was initially a drugs search and he actually had a knife on him. That was a bit of a worry because it was just the two of us that were there. He was resisting arrest, spitting, being abusive, but that’s the only aggressive person I’ve come across so far.”

On the sudden death call, she added: “I had never seen a dead body so that was my biggest worry. You usually get an opportunity to go to the mortuary to prepare yourself for it, so that was my biggest thing to deal with.”

Her senior officer added: “I’ve got 15 years in the job and I’ve been a tutor for seven or eight years, and it’s only really when resources are rock bottom [this happens].

“She and a lot of others have just been punted out after three weeks and the only thing they know about the law is their common sense.”

Scottish Police Federation chairman David Hamilton said: “Nobody would choose for officers with just three weeks’ training to be deployed in an operational environment. This however is policing in 21st century Scotland, where we simply can’t afford not to use every resource that we have.

“I was surprised to meet a number of these probationers at COP26 as they were only ever meant to be backfilling in ‘business-as-usual’ – but they were being well looked after by their colleagues and I’m sure will have picked up some important skills and experiences.

“However, I suspect those who were working in ‘business-as-usual’ will have had the biggest shock and hope that the volume of demand, lack of resources and danger they face every day doesn’t discourage them from returning to finish their training.”