Frontline police in Strathclyde doing staff jobs

by Malcolm Burns

UNISON Strathclyde Police & Fire Branch has revealed that police officers in the force are doing staff jobs instead of frontline duties, even as further staff job cuts are planned.

Norma MacKenzie, Depute Branch Secretary, said: “Strathclyde Police has announced a jobs freeze - and we believe that the force is now planning more staff redundancies, despite covering existing staff shortages with frontline officers.”

“We will oppose wholesale cuts in staff jobs - we are here to protect and serve the public, not to be sacrificial lambs to budget cuts which no-one voted for.”

The union argues that Strathclyde Police is already failing to meet its claimed targets for frontline officers.

Norma added: “We discovered that 36% of the jobs in Strathclyde Police Area Control Rooms - which are essentially specialised call centres - are being done by police officers rather than the expert staff who are trained for the jobs. The Chief Constable claims that more than 400 extra frontline police have been added since 2007 to meet the government’s target. In fact 126 officers are not deployed on frontline duties, despite being counted in the total claimed by Strathclyde Police.”

The figures were contained in an internal equalities impact assessment carried out by the force and seen by the union.

UNISON Strathclyde Police and Fire branch has asked for meetings with management and with the chair of the Police Board Councillor Stephen Curran to discuss jobs and service cuts.

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