Illustration by Kimberly Carpenter

Notebook: Scotland’s police and justice news

  • Who’s to blame after Scotland removed from drug-testing programme?

  • Anti-fraud scheme stopped pensioner sending £10k to Dubai scammers

  • Hundreds of police officers in line for promotion this year

By 1919 staff

Notebook: Scotland’s police and justice news

  • Who’s to blame after Scotland removed from drug-testing programme?

  • Anti-fraud scheme stopped pensioner sending £10k to Dubai scammers

  • Hundreds of police officers in line for promotion this year

Illustration by Kimberly Carpenter

Row after Scotland removed from UK drug testing scheme

The Scottish Government has hit back at UK crime authorities who accused it of pulling out of a drug analysis programme.

The National Crime Agency said ministers in Edinburgh had “decided to withdraw from the Waste Water Analysis programme” which is vital in detecting drug use among the general population.

In previous years it has shown heroin use in Scotland to be notably higher than other parts of the UK.

However, in response the Scottish Government told 1919 the Home Office had stopped funding Scottish sampling sites, and that its own analysis programmes were sufficient.

A spokesperson said: “It is vital to have the ability to know what is in the drug supply and when substances of concern, such as synthetic opioids, appear.

“The Scottish Government and partners are already able to identify and respond to such emerging threats.”

Anti-fraud initiative stops pensioner sending £10,000 to Dubai crooks

Scammers almost succeeded in robbing a vulnerable pensioner of £10,000 before they were stopped by an anti-fraud initiative.

The 79-year-old Scot went to his local bank branch in an attempt to send money to criminals pretending to be in Dubai.

They had persuaded him they needed the cash to escape the exchange of fire between the US and Iran during the recent Middle East conflict.

However, the Banking Protocol – a partnership between police and big banks – helped staff intervene and stop the transaction.

He was subsequently passed onto the Vulnerable Persons Database to stop similar attempts in future.

Terror fears as Prevent referrals expected to go up

The number of people referred to Police Scotland’s anti-terror programme is expected to surge by about 40 per cent, 1919 has learned.

The Prevent unit was already dealing with a 60 per cent rise last year.

And it is feared the further hike will put unsustainable pressure on Police Scotland’s Prevent Delivery Unit (PDU).

Prevent is a UK-wide initiative seeking to divert young people away from joining terror organisations or pursuing their goals as a “lone wolf”.

The report said: “There is a risk that the PDU will be unable to effectively discharge Police Scotland’s statutory Prevent Duty due to the increase in demand of Prevent referrals and casework.”

It added that data for 2025/26 had not been fully verified, but is “likely to show an increase in excess of 40 per cent from the previous year”.

“The risk of terrorism in Scotland would increase if subjects were missed or not assessed and managed appropriately at the early intervention stages,” it warned.

Hundreds primed to climb the pole

Around 400 police officers should expect to be promoted in the year ahead, a report on recruitment and opportunities has revealed.

It stated succession planning data meant hundreds will receive a career boost, while the number of temporary ranks are expected to reduce.

The paper also showed how Police Scotland’s ‘Job like no other’ advertising campaign led to a surge in applications to join.

Around 10 would-be recruits submitted an application every day throughout 2024/25 when the campaign ran, a hike on the previous year’s figures.

Campus cop dishes out lesson to local crooks…

The work of a campus cop in Glasgow helped snare a number of men who enlisted pupils to support their drug and violence empire.

Officers had noted an increase in violence linked to a feud in the Priesthill and Arden areas of the city over the past year.

Many of the children involved attended the same school, enabling the officer based there to gather intelligence and help bring the perpetrators to justice.

A number of warrants were issued, including one which led to a significant recovery of drugs, cash, weapons and e-bikes.

A report on the matter to the Scottish Police Authority praised the “intelligence-led, pro-active policing” of those involved.

… while officers disrupt criminal’s exploitation of young shoplifters

Police have disrupted a male offender who sent teams of kids into shops to steal alcohol across the west of Scotland.

Officers identified the man, who was recruiting the young people and then training them in how to take the goods.

He would identify specific supermarkets and personally supervise the thefts, before taking possession of the goods to sell on.

“Where possible he would retain all profits, for example where young people were too intimidated to ask for their share,” a police report stated.

Occasionally, he would pay the young people with drugs. He has since been arrested and charged in connection with the offences.

Hundreds of fires at waste and recycling centres

Fire crews have battled hundreds of blazes at waste and recycling facilities over the last five years, new research has revealed.

The 75 fires attended in 2025 was a three-year high, with some raging on for days. Since 2021, there have been 359 fires linked to the facilities across the country.

In the brief period since the statistics – obtained by 1919 under freedom of information legislation – were compiled, more high-profile incidents have taken place.

Most notably, firefighters battled a gigantic fire in the village of Ladybank which was visible across Fife for several days.

Serious domestic abuse rise sparked by repeat offenders

A huge increase in men attempting to kill current or former partners is largely down to repeat offenders, new analysis has shown.

The additional 56 cases of domestic attempted murder last year represents a 143 per cent rise from the previous 12 months.

The vast majority of victims were female, with men almost always the perpetrators.

A police report stated: “Victims were often repeat victims of domestic abuse, having previously reported abuse to the police.

“Accused were often repeat perpetrators for domestic abuse with a significant offending history, and/or had been identified as a high-risk domestic abuser.”

Radio station

Rail bosses are using Tannoy systems to crack down on vandalism in stations across the country.

As part of an attempt to stop crime before it escalates, ScotRail is rolling out “analytical CCTV” which blares out warnings to those suspected of wrongdoing.

The move will also enable police to be alerted more quickly as incidents of suspicious behaviour unfold.

It is understood that repeat problem locations will be targeted initially.

Antisocial behaviour notices rise on instruction of Lord Advocate

A 26 per cent rise in antisocial behaviour penalties issued by police has been driven by new guidelines issued by the Lord Advocate, the force has said.

More than 2,900 of the fixed penalties were given out last year, compared to 2,300 in 2024/25.

They are increasingly being used as an alternative to more serious criminal action, and tend to be targeted at lower-level offending.

A report by Police Scotland confirmed the “significant rise” was a result of “revised Lord Advocate guidelines on Police Direct Measures”.

It added: “These guidelines provide officers more discretion to deal with low-level offending at the closest point to the commission of the offence.”

Scottish businesses should hire people like me, says ex-offender

A former prisoner turned entrepreneur has said Scottish businesses should consider hiring people with criminal records.

Jacob Hill, founder of Offploy, said integrating offenders into the workplace would reduce reoffending and broaden the recruitment talent pool.

Speaking to the Let’s Talk Social Value podcast, he said: “Employing people with convictions is something every business should be looking to do, and there are many benefits for that business and for society.”

Host Sarah Stone added: “This is something Scottish businesses should consider – it all ties into the importance of how to build social value.”

Relief after the chaos

By Magnus Gardham 
Former Scotland Office special adviser

Got there in the end. That, at least, was the snap verdict of the Chancellor’s backbench colleagues, who waved their order papers wildly at the end of her 65-minute budget speech.

They have endured a miserable few weeks as downbeat briefings, followed by clumsy un-briefings, sparked fears of a political disaster for Labour and dented confidence in the government.

And the drama didn’t end on budget day, with claims that Rachel Reeves misled the public followed by this month’s resignation of the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

“The most chaotic lead up to a budget in living memory,” taunted Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons as she highlighted the pre-budget blunder that led to this resignation – the early publication of the OBR assessment.

When the spending plans were finally announced – as we knew to expect – Reeves avoided the poisonous step of increasing the basic rate of income tax in clear breach of Labour’s manifesto.

Instead, she revealed a plethora of smaller taxes that Labour can argue will hit those who can afford to pay more. And, of course, a freezing of thresholds until 2031 which will bring more people into tax and into higher rates.

Those rates do not apply in Scotland where income tax thresholds are devolved to Holyrood.

“The Chancellor handed Scottish Labour another get-out-of-jail card”

But the Chancellor’s move goes a long way to explaining the genuinely positive reaction from Labour MSPs. They had faced the unhappy prospect of explaining complex intergovernmental fiscal rules – and why they would cost the Scottish Government £1 billion – had Reeves raised the basic rate by 2p.

With the Holyrood election looming ever larger, the Chancellor handed Scottish Labour another get-out-of-jail card.

The two-child benefit cap was popular with the public, but appalled Labour.

By axeing it, in what was easily the most heartfelt section of her speech, Reeves delighted her own side but also removed a potentially devastating dividing line between Labour and the SNP.

SNP ministers were committed to mitigating the impact of the cap, starting just weeks before the election, and were preparing to hammer Labour – sorry, make that “callous Labour” – for the £155 million it would have cost them next year.

The Scottish Government will now save that cash and have an extra £820 million to spend, to the end of the spending review period in 2028, through the Barnett formula.

Reeves tried to credit Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar with the windfall. “Because he asked us to,” she told the Commons.

That is not really how the Barnett formula works and the sum, reflecting UK spending, was a lot less than last year’s bumper £3.4 billion transfer.

It will not stop SNP claims of austerity in the run up to next May but then, nothing would.

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