Chief Constable Joe Farrell says Police Scotland is “overwhelmed” by the “staggering” demands placed on officers by failing mental health services and a court system that needs complete reform.
Ms Farrell, the first woman to lead Police Scotland, the UK’s second-largest force, took over the National Service helm in October last year.
She said the organization was under pressure, including declining numbers of police officers, a stressed and demoralized workforce, underreporting of misogyny and racism within its ranks, and public outcry over the closure of police stations. took over. Since then, she has faced particular challenges, including the ongoing investigation into the Scottish National Party’s finances, Operation Branchform and, more recently, the implementation of the Scottish Government’s controversial hate crime laws.
Mr Farrell has now hit back, calling on other government agencies to “step up” and allow officers to focus on core policing.
“If someone is threatening themselves or posing a danger to others, that’s definitely where the police should be,” Farrell said. “But we babysit people who are not criminals. They don’t meet the criteria to be categorized under the Mental Health Act, but we feel the need to wrap them up because there’s no one else. I feel it.”
“When people say, ‘Why don’t we do better, why don’t we do more of this, why don’t we have regional officers here?'” This is part of the reason. ”
Many British troops, including the Metropolitan Battalion, deliberately refrain from taking part in mental health conference calls.
Mr Farrell said he had met chief executives of local authorities across Scotland to make his case, and continued to stress that court appearances were another huge drain on police time.
Mr Farrell said only 15 per cent of those present actually gave evidence on the day, with the remainder being re-presented in court at a later date. She estimates that Police Scotland spent £3 million in overtime on court appearances last year, with a third of officers attending court on their holidays or annual leave, making work-life It affects balance.
Farrell said the problem was “system-wide.” “Our prison population is over 8,000 people. [close to full capacity], a disproportionate number of people are being remanded. This means that the system is not working efficiently or effectively. ”
NEW Hate Crimes Law inundated police officers with more than 7,000 online complaints in the first week of April, but only 3.8% of them were found to be legitimate, just as the number of police officers Figures show this has fallen to its lowest level since 2008. .
But Mr Farrell insisted it had not eroded public trust as much as critics had predicted.
“We were very impressed with how officers and staff handled the high level of demand in the early weeks,” she said, noting that there were 124 online reports last week and that “we are likely to have new “It’s up to standard,” he added.
“What we are seeing is an increase in crimes against some of the newly protected characteristics, and this is particularly true for disability hate crimes, which was the purpose of the bill.”
When Mr Farrell resigned last summer, his predecessor Sir Ian Livingstone defended the length of the Branch Form inquiry and rejected claims it was politically motivated.
Given the ongoing investigation, all Farrell could do was reiterate the force’s operational independence and add: several weeks. ”
This is not the first time Farrell has overseen an investigation into a prominent politician. She previously led the ‘Beergate’ investigation into Labor leader Keir Starmer as chief constable of Durham, but she also drew criticism for not questioning Dominic Cummings for breaching lockdown rules.
She doesn’t think about how lessons learned from Durham could be applied to branch forms, but said: Inevitably there will be many opinions, but we are objective and follow the evidence. ”
Mr Farrell said on Friday it was revealed that former Police Scotland police officer Gemma McCrae, who complained of sexual assault by a colleague at Moray station and allegations of bullying and misogyny, had accepted a £431,968 payout from the force. told the media. .
McRae filed his first complaint in 2018, but how much has changed? Mr Farrell said he was “optimistic” that people were now more confident in reporting wrongdoing by his colleagues, but added: “There is definitely work to be done.”
Mr Farrell also said he would focus resources on rising crime areas such as cyber fraud and online child abuse, following criticism of the “proportional response” model which means police do not investigate all minor crimes. He suggested that attempts to do so had been “weaponized by some people.”
“Whether they were deliberately misled or not, they are people like you and me who were stupid enough to leave their mobile phones on the table in the pub, so they want to know the crime number.” If you’re a repeat victim of crime, or simply say, ‘I really want to meet someone,’ we’re here for you.”
