- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the additional police officers recruited since May 2007 are engaged in community policing, broken down by police force.
Answer
There are currently 1,044 more officers in our communities than at May 2007. The deployment of these officers is an operational matter for chief constables but it is long-standing practice that all new recruits gain operation policing experience. The majority of these officers will therefore be allocated to frontline duties in our communities.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is committed to maintaining the 1,000 extra police officers recruited since May 2007.
Answer
Yes. This is a priority for this government and I announced on 1 September that we now have 17,278 police officers in Scotland, which is 1,044 higher than at May 2007. The Scottish Government is directly paying for the recruitment, training and salary of 801 officers recruited since May 2007 and we are committed to meeting the costs of an additional 201 officers in 2010-11.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many police forces follow the approach to community policing taken by Strathclyde Police.
Answer
Each chief constable, working with local police authorities, is using their policing capacity and additional resources to best deliver the type of frontline policing that their communities want.
The report of the Justice Committee''s Inquiry into Community Policing acknowledged that a one size fits all model for community policing was not advantageous and that forces must be able to have flexibility to tailor their particular definition to their geography and populations. It is not, therefore, helpful to assess how one force model is or is not applied in another force area.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on implementing each of the recommendations in the Justice Committee’s Report on Inquiry into Community Policing.
Answer
The development of the Community Policing Engagement Principles by the Scottish Government, and subsequent work being taken forward locally by police forces and police authorities to develop their own community policing engagement standards, takes full account of the recommendations of the Justice Committee.
In particular, the committee recognised the importance of ensuring that the Scottish Government met its pledge to deliver 1,000 additional officers over the life of this Parliament. In fact, we passed this milestone in June 2009, nearly two years early.
We have also given police authorities sufficient resources to maintain police numbers. Funding for police forces is at its highest ever level, £1.115 billion in 2009-10, which will help to ensure that local communities continue to grow safer and stronger.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines community policing.
Answer
Community policing refers to the way in which policing takes place in our communities. This is at the heart of the government''s commitment to strengthening operational policing in our communities.
The Community Policing Engagement Principles set out a template for police forces to describe how they engage with their communities at a local level.
Community policing directly contributes to the outcomes we seek in relation to people living their lives free of crime and in having strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, what assessment it has made of the increase in crimes of dishonesty, including a 9% increase in theft by opening a lockfast place and a 10% increase in shoplifting, and what action it will take.
Answer
Through the National Community Safety Strategic Group which I chair, we are working closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Scottish Business Crime Centre, and other partners to deliver a co-ordinated response to this issue.
There are a number of factors that may influence the level of acquisitive crime. It may be committed for monetary gain and therefore a loss of income or economic opportunity through unemployment could make these crimes more attractive to some individuals. However, other factors can also explain changes in crime.
Funded by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Business Crime Centre runs a number of retail and acquisitive crime initiatives, including the Scottish Safer Areas Initiative and the Retailers Against Crime Initiative.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, how many of the offences of illegal cultivation of drugs were recorded in each police force area.
Answer
The information requested is given in table 4 of the following publication, Police Recorded Crime in Scotland - Additional tables (1) following the publication of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 49472).
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive further to the publication of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, how many crimes of handling an offensive weapon were recorded by the police in 2008-09, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested is given in table 2 of Police Recorded Crime - Additional tables (1) following the publication of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, published by the Scottish Government in October 2009, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 49472).
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, what assessment it has made of the housebreaking rate in Aberdeen City compared with the Scotland-wide average and what action it will take.
Answer
Over the last five years, there has been a decrease in the number of domestic housebreaking crimes recorded by the police per 10,000 population for Scotland. There has also been a general decrease in the number of domestic housebreaking crimes recorded by the police per 10,000 population in Aberdeen City over this period. In 2005-06, the rate for Aberdeen City was almost two and a half times the Scottish average but the latest figures for 2008-09 show that the rate stands at just over twice the Scottish average.
Domestic housebreaking has been a priority for Grampian police force for a number of years and this type of crime received significant focus of resources, with significant reductions being achieved. Additionally, funded by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Business Crime Centre runs a number of retail and acquisitive crime initiatives, including the Scottish Safer Areas Initiative and the Retailers Against Crime Initiative.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that any reduction in police staff numbers as described by the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police to the Justice Committee on 6 October 2009 would impact on the roles carried out by police officers and is likely to negatively impact on the length of time that officers can dedicate to frontline policing (Official Report c. 2271) .
Answer
This government is providing specific funding directly to police authorities to deliver on our commitment to providing an additional 1,000 police officers in our communities by 2011. There is therefore no question of this commitment having a negative impact on the efficiency of police support services.
