Police chiefs have denied claims there are not enough officers in Moray.
Last week, Elgin constable Leanne Jewison described fraught scenes when only two officers were left to deal with a fracas outside a town centre nightspot.
Speaking at a community council meeting, she said the incident presented an outnumbered pair of officers with a “scary” situation.
Constable Jewison raised concerns that the local force was being “pushed to the limit”, and said staff shortages had left some stations without any cover.
Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson and Chief Inspector Stewart Mackie were questioned on the comments during a meeting of Moray Council’s police and fire and rescue services committee yesterday.
Ch Insp Mackie described the tense scenes that flared outside Joanna’s nightclub in Elgin when only two officers were present to deal with a brawl.
Ch Insp Mackie said: “I reviewed the circumstances of the incident in question, where two officers were alerted to an ongoing assault.
“After arresting two men, an aggressive third male intervened and also had to be brought into custody.
“For a short time, the officers found themselves in a challenging situation, and activated the emergency buttons on their radios.”
But Ch Insp Mackie claimed other officers arrived “within minutes”, and said he was “content” with Moray’s staffing levels.
Douglas Ross, who is a Fochabers Lhanbryde councillor and the Scottish Conservatives’ shadow justice secretary, said: “I understand police can’t cover all bases all the time, but here we have a constable from Moray saying publicly that there are occasions Elgin doesn’t have enough officers.
“Since then I have become aware of several other officers saying they are glad this has been brought to the public’s attention.
“If this is happening where we have our largest population, what is the situation elsewhere in the area?”
Ch Supt Thomson said the probationary officer was “entitled to her opinion” – but insisted that recent police records show that Moray is being adequately policed.
He added: “We have finite resources and finite budgets, we deploy those resources according to the level of threat.
“There will always be times when officers have to radio for assistance, when we face challenging situations.”
He said careful consideration is given to where officers are deployed every day, and invited councillors to attend one of the division’s tactical meetings to observe the process firsthand.
