Scotland’s top police officers are to hold urgent talks in an effort to minimise the impact of “unprecedented budget cuts” facing their forces.
The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (Acpos) has warned that the country’s forces could see their budgets cut by a quarter in the next four years and will meet to discuss what “radical action” it has to take.
The organisation wants to see the country’s eight police forces working more closely with local authorities and with each other.
It has said that firearms operations and road policing could join administrative duties such as human resources and health and safety in being shared among several or all of the forces.
It comes after a senior police officer warned that changes have to be made to protect frontline services.
Lothian and Borders Chief Constable David Strang suggested Scottish forces should look at pooling their resources from “back-office” operations to save frontline policing.
Last night, Acpos president Patrick Shearer said Scotland’s eight chief constables would be discussing during the meeting on July 6 how to ensure the 17,409 officers on the streets stayed there.
Mr Shearer said: “Scottish forces have always worked closely together and numerous collaborations already exist but, with unprecedented budget cuts ahead of us – perhaps as large as 25% over four years – we need to rethink how we work and take urgent and radical action to minimise the impact of cuts on our delivery of frontline services.
“Cuts of this level are particularly difficult for the police service as almost 90% of our budget is spent on our people, and it is our people who deliver service to our communities.
“All chief constables in Scotland have been working together for several months to identify services, both operational and so-called back room, that they might share with partners, neighbouring forces or indeed nationally across Scotland.
“Meeting the challenge of maintaining the lowest levels of crime for more than 30 years with long-term significantly reduced budgets will be the subject of a meeting of the leaders of the Scottish police service in early July.”
The Scottish Government is giving £1.4billion to Scotland’s police forces this year but has warned of “shrinking budgets” in the future.
An Acpos spokeswoman said no aspect of the police service would be overlooked when considering how forces could work together.
“Absolutely everything is on the agenda as far as opportunities for sharing are concerned,” she said.
“Firearms operations and roads policing on our motorways will be considered, as well as more corporate issues like payroll and procurement of legal advice.”
Mr Strang said at the weekend that everything had to be considered amid the looming financial constraints.
He said a 16% cut in frontline services would take away 2,500 officers and operations carried out at force headquarters had to be assessed if the police were to continue protecting communities.
Last night, Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker welcomed the move towards forces working together but said the Scottish Government’s budget cuts for the police should not be excessive.
“This is a sensible approach but we need to see the SNP backing up their claim they are investing in frontline police services with the budgets to prove it,” he said.
“The government has to get its act together and make sure our forces are properly resourced. If they have to cut back-room service too much, our frontline officers will be left doing the back-room duties.”
Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said police forces would have to make hard decisions in the coming years. He said the Tories would oppose any budget cuts that would impact on frontline policing, but added “other parts of the budget will have to come under close scrutiny”.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “In recent years, forces have responded well to efficient government targets, consistently exceeding the targets they have been set, but if we are to protect services to communities, then we need to do much, much more.
“That means taking every opportunity within forces to improve processes and structures. It means taking every opportunity across forces and Acpos to collaborate and share services wherever that can add value and deliver efficiencies.”