Council must offer more support for policing the city - Iain Whyte
Yet another death from a stabbing this week has led a nearby resident to tell the Evening News that crime and anti-social behaviour in the area is “the worst it’s ever been”.
It was accompanied by reports of a man being convicted for stabbing his estranged wife on a nearby Leith street last year.
Kinfe crime is part of a wider set of issues of anti-social behaviour that happens across the city yet the council’s soft touch approach seems to be akin to that of a Scottish Government with jail sentences being ended far earlier.
The council talks about “community cohesion”, belated increases in youth work and supporting charity campaigns to make bleed kits available.
Like everyone else I applaud what Lisa Petrie has done to encourage the availability of bleed kits to save a life if the worst happens following the murder of her son John McNab. But any approach to knife crime must attempt to prevent it.
That does need education and rehabilitation, but it must be backed up by robust policing action. This should include targeted campaigns involving stop and search.
If someone’s human rights are diminished temporarily through an unnecessary search that’s an inconvenience compared with the real damage done to victims of knife crime.
This leads me to the issue. Edinburgh is under policed. We have less than half the number of divisional officers compared with greater Glasgow while having a similar population and similar crime levels. Over 1000 fewer in total.
In the past, Chief Constables have promised to correct this over time as retirals and recruitment allow, with more officers to be recruited where there is a comparative shortage and a demonstrated need.
Regrettably that hasn’t happened yet with the latest Police Scotland figures showing a reduction of 59 divisional policing officers in Edinburgh compared with 2020. Glasgow’s reduction in the same period is four.
The council is letting Police Scotland off the hook by spending Tourist Tax money to fill the gap and recruit an extra 50 officers for the city centre. This will help but should have been backed with an agreement to level up Edinburgh’s overall numbers in an agreed timescale.
I certainly don’t blame our local, hard working Edinburgh Police teams. They are doing all they can. What they need is more colleagues and more time to do the proactive, community based policing that makes us all safer.