A councillor has launched an attack on the police following a “paltry” report into increased response times to the most serious emergency calls in Moray.
Fochabers and Lhanbryde councillor Douglas Ross called for an investigation after it emerged that officers in Moray were taking two-minutes longer to respond to grade-one emergency calls over the past year.
Kevin Elder, chief inspector with the area’s command, contact and control division, has now completed his report, which will go before the council’s police, fire and rescue services committee on Thursday.
In the report, the senior officer advises that comparing two years’ worth of information “does not always give a full picture”, and suggests a five-year retrospective would give a more rounded view.
The report adds that events such as the independence referendum and the Queen’s baton relay placed increased strain on the force last year.
The inspector also casts doubt on the accuracy of the figures, saying officers are sometimes unable to correctly record when they arrive at the scene of an emergency.
But Mr Ross has criticised the inspector for failing to offer ideas on how to reverse the trend.
He said: “This report offers no solutions to the problem.
“I think that is disrespectful to the committee who are charged with scrutinising local policing, and it’s an absolute disgrace that people in Moray are being told there are no plans in place that would see them getting a quicker response time.”
Mr Ross labelled the inspector’s notion that viewing response times over a five-year spell would be more telling “incredible”.
He added: “This is basically saying we have to put up with a deteriorating service for years before anything would be done, that is simply not acceptable.
“Our local officers do their best, but my impression from this paltry report is they do not have the support or backing of more senior officers.
“Needing the police to respond to an emergency should be a rare occurrence but when it’s required people in Moray must have the confidence that officers will arrive as quickly as possible.”
Responding to the councillor’s claims yesterday, Superintendent Philip MacRae, of contact, command and control division, said: “All 999 calls received are taken seriously and those requiring immediate attendance are our absolute priority.
“Average response times can be affected by a number of different factors including distances travelled in order to get to an incident and making sure that in doing so officers and the public are kept safe.
“This matter will be discussed fully at the committee on Thursday.”