By Anas Sarwar MSP
Scottish Labour leader
One of the first responsibilities of government is to keep communities safe, but under the SNP every part of our justice system is under pressure.
Frontline policing is stretched to breaking point, our courts are racked with delays and backlogs, and prisons are dangerously overcrowded.
The SNP’s record is nothing short of criminal.
The SNP has allowed police numbers to be cut to the bone, meaning there are now fewer police officers on the beat than when Police Scotland was founded in 2013.
Meanwhile, local police stations across the country have been closed and many people have been left feeling less safe in their own communities.
The UK Labour government has delivered an extra £10.3 billion for Scotland’s public services, but our justice system is not feeling the benefit because this money is being squandered by a wasteful and incompetent SNP government.
Under the SNP, crime is rising and violent crime is rising even more sharply.
Recent figures show there are more than 10,000 arrest warrants outstanding across Scotland, including seven for murder, five for attempted murder and 40 for rape.
We need more police officers on the front line, tackling crime and acting as a visible presence in communities – but under the SNP, they are too often stuck in A&E departments, hospital wards and courtrooms instead.
In only three months this year, Police officers recorded responses to over 60,000 mental health incidents, and the Scottish Police Federation has said that 40-to-60 per cent of police capacity is now devoted to dealing with health-related incidents.
Police are being left to pick up the pieces of the SNP’s NHS crisis – it is utterly unsustainable.
The current system is failing police officers and its failing those struggling with a mental health crisis.
That’s why I have announced that a Scottish Labour government will establish a new Mental Health Emergency Response Service, which will provide all day, all-year-round emergency care.
That will mean specially trained NHS professionals responding to 999 mental health-related calls.
This will ease pressure on policing and get people the specialist care they need in a crisis.
Health-related callouts are not the only thing keeping police officers away from the front line.
The Chief Constable recently confirmed that approximately 420 officers a day are in courts across Scotland, but as few as 15 per cent of these officers are actually called to give evidence.
Every day, hundreds of police officers are left waiting around in court instead of being in their communities – it’s just not working.
That’s why Scottish Labour will modernise the court system and ensure that less police time is wasted in this way.
“Hundreds of police officers are left waiting around in court instead of being in their communities – it’s just not working”
If we want more police officers on the front line, we need to make sure they are properly supported.
As pressure mounts on Police Scotland, rising levels of stress and poor mental health have led to high rates of staff absence.
Under the SNP, the people we rely on to keep our communities safe are being let down.
So Scottish Labour will establish a new Trauma Support Service to support our police officers and cut the soaring levels of police officer absences, and deliver a wider officer and staff retention strategy.
These plans mean more police officers back on the beat where they belong, fighting crime and keeping Scots safe instead of being off with stress, stuck in hospital or waiting around in courtrooms.
By freeing up police time, we can restore community policing. Under Labour every single council ward in Scotland will be allocated a named community and crime prevention officer.
We will also restore the role of crime prevention officers who will serve their communities through work in schools, and with retailers and community groups.
This is the difference a Scottish Labour government will make – a safer Scotland and a better supported Police Scotland.