Saturday 28 May 2011

Balanced police workforce

Today's Herald newspaper reports on the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents conference. They have stressed the importance of a balanced workforce and not taking experienced police officers off the beat to undertake the roles of police (civilian) staffs.

Their survey comes as senior policing figures fear that forces’ ruling boards of councillors will be tempted to cut numbers for civilian staff instead of officers.  Chief Superintendent David O’Connor, Asps president, said:

“A balanced workforce is all about the right people with the right skills in the right jobs. It would denude the frontline if we start taking highly confident and experienced police officers and putting them in to office jobs.”

This is welcome support for UNISON Scotland's long standing position from senior police officers who understand the operational realities. The 1000 police officer target is simply a cosmetic political fix that makes no sense.

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