POTENTIAL civil disorder and transport chaos mean Scotland needs up to 900 extra police officers to maintain public safety through Brexit, the officers’ union has said.
In a letter to MSPs urging them to vote for a Holyrood budget with adequate funding, the Scottish Police Federation warned the current financial package could prove “catastrophic”.
The SPF, which represents around 17,000 frontline officers in Police Scotland, said Brexit was set to make 2019 the busiest year for the single force since it was formed in 2013.
However police officer numbers were falling, not rising to cope with the demand.
It estimated that Brexit alone would create “demand equivalent to between 750 and 900 officers”, with Scottish officers diverted to give “mutual aid” to forces south of the border.
The SPF said Brexit was already consuming resources at over-stretched Police Scotland, with officers “currently working beyond their limits” facing considerable new burdens.
These include “an unavoidable uplift in police officers in Border policing”; an uplift in public order officers and increased demand for mutual aid in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; increased pressure on roads and ports as food and livestock movements are affected,
The union also said there was a likelihood of increased protest and demonstration activity “as well as the potential for civil disobedience in some parts of the UK”.
The latest officer count at Police Scotland is 17,147, a fall of 350 since its 2013 peak.
Under the force’s current three year plan, that number is assumed to fall buy 300 in 2019/20.
Instead of more officer cuts, the SPF said there should be an uplift to 17,550 officers.
SPF General Secretary Calum Steele said: “We consider this to be the minimum that would be required to ensure the policing of Brexit related issues could be delivered without any catastrophic impact on other day-to-day policing activities”.
Addressing MSPs directly in his letter, he concluded: “The obligation to safeguard the safety and security of citizens is one that extends to all parliamentarians. It is incumbent on you to ensure the budget on which you vote contains the necessary funding to do just that.
“If you decide your priorities are elsewhere, the impact for policing and our communities will be stark. You need only look to the state of policing services south of the border to see what the future for Scotland’s police service could look like.”
Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said the SPF had made “an important intervention”.
He said: “It is now clear that Police Scotland is suffering as a result of being starved of resources by the SNP government. That has resulted in fewer police on our streets and crime rising for the first time in a decade.
“You can’t keep people safe on the cheap – and the SNP must urgently realise that.”
The Scottish Government, which recently gave police officers a 6.5% pay rise, has been asked for comment.
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