Rhoda Grant hits out saying Police Scotland is not funded properly
‘down to underfunding’ – Rhoda Grant
Rhoda Grant MSP said there were no winners in the situation in which Police Scotland chief constable Sir Stephen House is having to stand down.
The Highlands and Islands MSP added: “This is a situation which could have been avoided had Nicola Sturgeon’s government ensured the force was adequately funded, instead of imposing swingeing cuts as the service was centralised and merged into one.
“Sir Stephen House is to be commended on his work to eradicate violence against women, making tackling crimes such as domestic abuse and rape a priority. The momentum that he started must be continued to ensure we live in an equal society where everyone is protected by the law enforcement agencies.”
She stressed the importance of whoever succeeds Stephen House being properly supported by the SNP government and allowed to do the job they are paid to do, which is keeping our communities safe, instead of being left to carry the can for the Scottish Government’s failings.
Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman Graeme Pearson, a former Deputy Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police and former Director General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said stepping down and he thanked Sir Stephen on behalf of Scottish Labour.
Graeme Pearson MSP
“However, we know the problems in Police Scotland extend far beyond the Chief Constable. It was only a few weeks ago that the First Minister gave her full backing to the Chief Constable and now the SNP Government can no longer hide behind him.
“Police Scotland has had to endure months of controversy which has seriously damaged public confidence in the police service. This could have been avoided if Ministers had taken responsibility.
Mr Pearson said even now it isn’t too late for Nicola Sturgeon and her “invisible” Justice Minister to get a grip.
“Police Scotland has been an organisation without proper oversight for too long, and has had to endure cuts from the SNP Government which have left the force under resourced and over worked.
“Officers and staff work round the clock to keep people safe. The controversy of this summer has dragged their reputation unfairly through the mud. The process of reforming Police Scotland can begin now if the SNP Government are willing to take responsibility for their mistakes.”
I am more than happy to see House go.
Like too many organizations in Scotland, Police Scotland has foreigners appointed to the head positions. Another example of relevance at this point in time is the Edinburgh Festival which, in its 70 years, has never had a Scotsman in charge, only foreigners.
I know that too many of the people in positions of power in Scotland are merely lackeys of the English government, and continue to treat the Scottish people as too wee, too poor and too stupid to run our own affairs.
As to House, this is the man who was ultimately responsible for the recent tragedy of the car crash which took the police three days to check out. I agree that it was not totally his fault, but the fault of the SNP in having useless Justice Ministers and an obsession with centralizing everything. They could well have centralized such things as purchasing, admin and similar for the police, and left the various forces as they were.
This centralization resulted in House bringing in idiotic levels of stop and search. Scotland has had more cases of stop and search than even that bastion of corruption and evil, the English Metropolitan Police. This despite the fact that the population of Scotland is approximately half of the Met. Police area.
Another of House’s poor decisions was to try to have every policeman armed, regardless of what they were doing. If he had known anything about Scotland and Scottish culture, he would have realized that such a move was totally out of place and unnecessary. Like the stop and search he seems to think that the people of Scotland are all a bunch of hardened, murderous thugs.
I appreciate that, nowadays, there are problems with deranged terrorist groups and the odd equally deranged nutters in our society, and that there is a case for police having access to firearms when the (very rare) case arises. However, that could be covered by having lock boxes in police cars for such firearms, which would only be brought out if the need arises.
The SNP do have a major share of the blame in this fiasco as, if they had a decent and intelligent Justice Minister, they could have exercised control over House and his ilk who appear to wish to turn Scotland into a police state.
A related matter is the SNP desire to waste vast amounts of police time and taxpayers money on the air gun situation by demanding that all air guns be registered. This is, supposedly, to ensure that air guns are not a source of crime. A decent and intelligent Justice Minister would have realized that there is plenty of existing legislation to control the use of air guns, without even more unnecessary and unenforceable legislation.
So, Nicola, get a grip. Appoint a competent person to the post of Justice Minister. Appoint Scots to senior positions in government and semi-government (including all taxpayer funded) organizations to replace all the foreigners in these positions, and remember, before you introduce any more daft legislation or make daft policies (such as wishing to have Scotland be a member of NATO (the North American Terrorist Organization), try consulting the people!
Oh Good.
Now that the Labour Branch in Scotland are claiming support for the police force, we can be sure that they’ll support the call to axe the VAT charges on our emergency services which are only applied to Scottish Emergency Services and to none other within the UK.
Or is it that they are really lacklustre press release producers rather than politicians with the gumption to actually lead action on what they claim to support or believe in…
In this case, there allegiance to their Tory overlords sets out the Labour priorities for all to see. Westminster domination over Scottish interests.
Better Together, for them.