http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/in ... =107892007
Police sound siren over slump in traffic officers
MURDO MACLEOD
SCOTLAND has lost almost one in 10 traffic police officers in the past six years despite soaring car ownership and a string of tough new road laws.
All eight of Scotland's police forces were asked to provide figures for the numbers of traffic officers now and in 2000, and the results show a decrease of 79 to 850, or just one for every 3,000 vehicles on the road.
Over the same period, 400,000 extra vehicles were registered and a string of laws passed increasing the burden on police, including the ban on driving while using a mobile phone and new rules forcing drivers to have car seats installed for most youngsters.
The decline has provoked fury among rank-and-file police officers, with the Scottish Police Federation claiming that forces were having to rely too much on speed cameras to enforce the law.
Officers warn that the decline of a visible police presence is encouraging drivers - particularly the young - to take greater risks, including speeding and using drink and drugs before getting behind the wheel.
Senior police have vehemently denied for years that the number of traffic officers has dropped as speed cameras become more common.
But information obtained by Scotland on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws proves there has been a decrease of 8.6% since 2000, and reveals for the first time the decline on a force-by-force basis.
The figures reveal that:
• In Scotland's biggest police force, Strathclyde, the number of dedicated road officers stands at just 341 compared with 382 in 2000.
• There has been a massive decrease in Fife over the period from 60 to 41.
• In Dumfries and Galloway, the number has fallen by 24% from 55 to 42, and Grampian is down 10% from 77 to 71.
• Scotland's second-biggest force, Lothian and Borders, has 162 road officers but apparently does not know how many it used to have. A spokesman admitted there had been "a slight decline" in the numbers.
• The only force to have increased its number of road policing officers is Northern Constabulary, which had 24 in its dedicated unit in 2000 and has 26 now. In addition, the force has an extra 38 traffic officers deployed around the region.
Jim Duffy, the former head of traffic training at the Scottish Police College, said: "There has been a decline and, if anything, the situation is worse than the figures suggest."
Duffy, who is also the chairman of the Strathclyde police federation, added: "The figures include senior officers who are involved in management, they include accident investigation teams, camera units, the road intelligence unit and the road safety teams who go around working on roads education.
"We didn't have those units a few years ago. I'm not saying these units shouldn't be there but they mean there are far fewer officers available to go out on traffic patrol.
"And even without the cuts there's more to do. There's everything from mobile phones to child booster seats to keep an eye on. There's more to do and fewer officers to do it."
Duffy condemned the reliance on speed cameras, saying: "Speed cameras are blunt instruments. They can tell who is speeding, but they can't tell much else. They can't pick out drunk drivers, they can't pick out unroadworthy vehicles and they can't chase criminals."
Duffy gave an example of the decline in patrols from his own force in Strathclyde.
He said: "We formerly had a road police unit in Kilmarnock and another in Ayr. Kilmarnock would have three or four cars out and Ayr three. In recent years they have been amalgamated, but now you're lucky if they have one car out."
Paul Smith, founder of the pressure group Safe Speed, which campaigns against the use of road cameras, said: "These figures confirm what many of us have suspected, that there are fewer officers out there because there is so much reliance on speed cameras. We all know that we don't see so many traffic police any more. Road safety resources are being taken away on the QT."
Neil Greig, head of policy Scotland for the Institute of Advanced Motorists Trust, said: "The growth of traffic means that there is more need for highly visible traffic patrols on the roads. They reassure motorists and provide a deterrent against those who would break the law."
Glasgow Tory MSP Bill Aitken also argued for a larger force. "We need more, not less, high-visibility traffic policing, to deter drunk-drivers. I think that the authorities are relying more and more on cameras and that could cost lives," he said.
A Scottish Executive spokesman sought to distance ministers from the decline, saying: "The deployment of the record resources we have provided to the forces is a matter for chief constables. There are 1,500 more police officers in Scotland than there were in 1999."
No-one was available from ACPOS for comment. A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said the force could not comment because the figures had come as a result of a FoI request. No-one from the force's FoI unit was available for comment.
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