The STUC will vigorously oppose Scottish
Government plans to absorb the specialist
British Transport Police (BTP) into Police
Scotland and delegates were dismayed that
the announcement of these plans was made
without any public consultation.
Supporting an emergency motion from the
RMT, George McIrvine of UNISON Scotland’s
Police Branch told delegates that although
there have been rumours that this merger
was on the Scottish Government’s
radar over a year ago there has been no
acknowledgement of this by Justice Secretary
Michael Matheson, the SPA or indeed the
Chief Constable.
He added, “It would be fair to
say that since the merger of policing
in Scotland two years ago, ironically
on April Fools day, this Scottish Government
has presided over a ‘polishambles’
that seems to attract unwanted attention
on a daily basis from local and national
media, politicians and the public alike.”
George detailed the very many concerns
since the merger of local police forces
into Police Scotland: “We have witnessed
a wholesale shambolic centralisation programme
that has led to the closure of local police
stations and control rooms which has directly
impacted on service delivery to local
people, local jobs and the local economy
all in the name of efficiencies.
“The comedy stop and search performance
whereby officers were pressured into stopping
children and law abiding citizens just
to meet targets set by senior management.
Ultimately leading to the chief constable
and his cohorts misleading parliament
when eventually challenged.
“The outdated and farcical manifesto
pledge of 1000 extra cops on the beat
who are now perversely backfilling the
duties of the civilian workforce that
have been made redundant in order that
they can provide some kind of patchwork
service to the public.”
George warned, “This leads me to
think now, why the Scottish Government
don’t want to consult but to do
a landgrab of 200 officers that will fill
a black hole of much needed resources.
“In effect these new officers will
be absorbed into core shifts and duties
in local policing.”
He added that the current UK structure
for control rooms for BTP is Birmingham
and London.
“The concern for our members is
clear, primarily in control rooms, as
civilian workers who are greatly understaffed,
overworked and under pressure to perform.
These moves will inevitably bring about
an increase in calls to an already overburdened
workforce.”
He promised that UNISON Scotland will
be demanding consultation within our own
structures with SPA and Police Scotland.
“The reality is, just like the
chaos we have all seen in the media with
deploying specialised firearm cops to
do beat duties, we will see these 200
BTP officers carrying out a multitude
of other duties like routine patrols whilst
a cop, who will never have dealt with
any aspect of criminality on the railways
will be sent to an incident there.
“It looks like another episode
of the continued saga of the ‘polishambles’
will continue for some time to come........
George said: “It looks like this
Scottish Government, SPA and the Chief
Constable all continue to be a law unto
themselves!”
