Date: Thursday 11 June 2015
UNISON Scotland welcomes the report from Reform Scotland The Thinning Blue Line released today (Thursday 11 June 2015).
This report mirrors much of what UNISON said at the time Police Scotland was being proposed. UNISON agrees with Reform Scotland that we should: give local authorities more say in local policing; reform the Police Scotland board to make police more accountable to local authorities and communities; and review the 1000 additional police officers policy.
The union has always also said that the policy - which means you replace the civilian police staff with police officers - is not cost effective and not the most effective way to fight crime.
Dave Watson from UNISON said:
"The policy to increase 1000 police officers while slashing the police budget by £1bn has been a disaster.
"The policy to increase 1000 police officers while slashing the police budget by £1bn has been a disaster.
"As this report shows, the crime clear up rates of individual police officers is dropping, in our view this was always going to happen.
