News In Focus
22 April 2009
SPF calls for best use of police, PF and court time
The outgoing chair of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has called for a “systematic examination” to ensure police time, procurator fiscal time and court time are used to best effect.
Addressing the SPF’s annual conference in Peebles, Norrie Flowers told Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill that little had improved in this regard since he joined the police in 1977, and hundreds of officers were still being called to court daily only to find that they were not required.
He said that in 1977 the procedure was: “Police officer reports to the PF, police citation to attend court, plea bargaining on day of trial, hundreds of police officers on a daily basis no longer required at court. The cost was enormous. The result, a complete waste of police time.
“Fast forward to 2009. Police officer reports to PF, police citation to attend court, plea bargaining on day of trial, hundreds of police officers on a daily basis no longer required at court. The cost enormous. The result, still a complete waste of police time.”
Mr Flowers said consecutive governments had been either unable or unwilling to address this problem, and as a result communities were being denied the services of hundreds of police officers.
“It just does not make sense that police officers are off the streets writing reports for the procurator fiscal, who then wastes more time reading these reports only to take no proceedings,” he said. “Fixed penalties do not address this phenomenal waste of effort.
“We would welcome a systematic examination to ensure police time, PF time and court time are used to best effect.”
Mr MacAskill clamed in response that as a result of the summary justice reforms, cases were being dealt with more quickly and thousands fewer witnesses were being cited to court, so that police officers' time was being freed up.
To read the full text of Norrie Flowers’s speech to the Scottish Police Federation’s annual conference, click here