Too many officers pulled off community policing duties in Edinburgh, find inspectors

Too many police officers in Edinburgh are being pulled off the frontline to work in specialist units and patrol courts, inspectors have warned.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) has called for a review of the balance between local policing and specialist resources within the capital.

It comes as the watchdog issued an inspection report showing Edinburgh has the highest crime rate and lowest detection rate – when police are satisfied who has committed the crime even if a conviction is lacking – of Police Scotland’s 14 local policing divisions.

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Inspectors estimate the equivalent of 55 officers every day are being drawn from local policing teams to provide temporary cover for a range of additional demands.

This is primarily to police the 1,150 pre-planned events the city hosts each year, though inspectors also found officers having to cover in custody centres, behind police counters and at Edinburgh Airport.

The creation of specialist teams to tackle the likes of domestic abuse and child exploitation has contributed to a 16 per cent reduction in numbers in response and community teams since 2011, albeit the situation has been exacerbated by an unanticipated increase in officers retiring on the eve of Police Scotland going live.

HMICS also questioned the permanent deployment of 18 officers - the equivalent of almost 32,000 police officer hours last year alone - in the city’s courts. Police Scotland and the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service have been urged to bring the number down.

Other agencies are also being asked to play a bigger role when it comes to vulnerable individuals given police in Edinburgh receive almost 38 calls reporting vulnerability every day, some of which involve individuals who threaten or attempt to suicide or self-harm.

“Police officers are often drawn into caring for vulnerable individuals, despite there being no specific or legitimate policing role,” notes the report.

“In many cases, officers have no option but to intervene with individuals whose needs would be better addressed through timely interventions by other agencies, and which would arguably result in better outcomes for those individuals.”

HM Inspector of Constabulary, Derek Penman, underlined that many of the issues facing Edinburgh have arisen because of its capital city status.

“The single force has provided greater access to specialist support and has provided additional officers to assist in meeting these challenges,” he said.

“However I believe there is now a need for Police Scotland to review the balance between local policing and specialist resources to ensure there are sufficient officers within response and community policing roles across the division.

“The positive trends across Scotland of reducing crime levels and improved detection rates are not mirrored in Edinburgh. However these challenges around performance existed before the creation of Police Scotland and the reasons for them are complex.”

Chief Superintendent Mark Williams, local policing commander for the City of Edinburgh Division, said “real advances” had recently been made in addressing issues such as housebreaking, which had jumped by more than a fifth in 2014-15.

The number of break-ins each month has halved and detection rates have doubled since the reintroduction of Operation RAC earlier this year.

Williams said: “As the report shows, the demand for resources in Edinburgh is unique but we will always seek to respond as effectively as we can, calling upon all the resources available to us at both a local and national level.”