More than £150,000 of repairs have been carried out on police cars over the past year – with some damage caused by vandals.
Shocking new figures have revealed the bill Police Scotland’s north-east division had to pay out to fix its fleet over the course of the 2017-18 financial year.
But just under £20,000 of the issues were caused by the officers themselves.
The remainder of the incidents were caused by deliberate damage and dents left by other vehicles in car parks with some scratches and scrapes spotted during routine vehicle inspections.
Superintendent Richard Craig said: “North East Division’s fleet of vehicles support our staff in providing a 24-hour service to our communities.
“In cases where a police vehicle has been vandalised, the incident will be investigated and where evidence exists the person or people responsible will be brought before the appropriate criminal justice partner.
“In each case when a vehicle sustains damage, every effort is made to have it repaired and operationally deployable as quickly as possible.”
Of the 161 damage reports filed over the year, just 24 involved police officers at fault.
More than £6,800 was recovered from incidents caused by other motorists.
The total repair bill for the year came to £151,178
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: “At a time when resources are extremely tight, these figures show that police in the north-east are forking out huge sums to fix damage to vehicles.
“The findings also suggest that more often than not, police officers are not at fault.
“That suggests vandalism could be a significant factor.”
He added: “It should go without saying that the job of the police is difficult enough without having to contend with mindless attacks on vehicles.
“Officers work very hard in difficult circumstances, and they should be able to go about their work unimpeded.
“At the end of the day, it is the taxpayer that is left footing the bill for any repairs to damaged vehicles.”
