Sunday Herald: '£40m black hole will mean compulsory civilian lay-offs and fewer beat bobbies’

Why losing staff jobs will put handcuffs on police


"The Scottish Government’s plan to recruit 1000 police officers is merely a cosmetic political exercise. Police boards face a real terms cut of at least 6% and, as the government have instructed that police officer numbers have to be maintained, the cuts will fall almost entirely on police (civilian) staff. Police Boards have reported that they will have to backfill civilian posts with police officers. This means more police officers will be taken off the street to perform tasks they are unsuited or unqualified to do – at a huge additional cost to the taxpayer."

Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser, UNISON


More by Dave - plus feature article on police service cuts - at Sunday Herald site:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crime-courts/police-budget-40m-black-hole-will-mean-compulsory-civilian-lay-offs-and-fewer-beat-bobbies-1.1081300


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