Meeting of the Parliament 11 February 2026 [Draft]
I thank Pauline McNeill for bringing the debate to the chamber today. There can be no doubt about the pressures on policing across Scotland and the impact of that on local communities. Against a backdrop of increasing complexity in the crime landscape, taking robust and urgent action to address those pressures is critical.
The decline in police numbers is one important aspect of the debate, and colleagues have rightly highlighted how workforce pressures are most keenly felt in neighbourhood policing capacity. I certainly see that in my Orkney constituency, where overall numbers are at a bare minimum and recruitment challenges are on-going. It is crucial that local forces are properly staffed in order to ensure that policing is effective and to maintain morale in the service and confidence among the wider public.
Worryingly, in Police Scotland’s 2025 local policing survey, only 23 per cent of respondents thought that the police dealt with local issues. In the latest Scottish crime and justice survey, fewer than half of respondents thought that the police were effective at preventing crime. I recognise that having bobbies on the beat does not necessarily reflect modern demands on the police and policing, but when officers are not visible in local areas and certain crimes are not being investigated as a matter of course, community policing is difficult to sustain.
In return, public confidence starts to erode. Add to that the inability to call the local police station—if it is not already closed—to report an incident and it is not hard to see how tensions can arise between police and local communities. To be clear, that is not a criticism of officers and staff, who are stretched to the limits and asked to do more with less, or at least work with resources that fail to keep pace with growing demands. It is little wonder that we see—as Pauline McNeill identified—officers and staff leaving the force in sizeable numbers, which strips away capacity and invaluable experience.
One of the most notable pressures is the significant rise in non-criminal health and care work. As we have heard, the force faces almost 700 mental health-related incidents a day, and the Scottish Police Federation has highlighted that officers can spend entire shifts with an individual who is detained under place of safety orders.
The police essentially plug gaps in our health and care system by acting as a crisis care provider of last resort. That is not in the interests of vulnerable individuals, who need appropriate, often specialist support, not officers who are diverted from the prevention and detection of crime. That is not safe or sustainable, and it requires urgent redress from ministers.
In the meantime, inefficiencies in the court system, with delays and repeat adjournments taking officers away from front-line duties, simply compound the problems. Chief Constable Jo Farrell estimated that, in 2024, that involved as many as 500 officers a day, with only 15 per cent ultimately giving evidence. That is in no one’s interest, and it demands to be addressed.
Community policing relies on visibility, stability and building trust. That requires officers to be present in communities to respond to crime and to engage in prevention by working closely with other local partners. Community policing has always been a great strength of policing in Scotland, but it now faces a pretty existential threat.
I thank Pauline McNeill for giving us the chance to shine a light on these issues, and I urge the Government to take the urgent steps that are needed to safeguard this critical aspect of policing in Scotland.