Started by a Freedom of Information request to the Scottish Ambulance Service, from the policing magazine 1919, the above story is everywhere.

1919 has a track record (sic) on propagandising for the opposition parties and their trade union chums in Scotland. In August 2023, on behalf of the Lib Dems, and their survey of only 62 out of 5 000 railway staff, they claimed a crisis affecting 88.7%! The claims were rebutted in the National at: https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23707382.allan-dorans-need-balanced-reporting-safety-scotrail-staff/

Today, they have four Scottish stories including the above.

STV helpfully tell us:

The database of 4,418 addresses constantly changes and is updated depending on new incidents and previous occupants of troublesome properties moving on, making historical comparisons difficult. However, back in 2018, it was reported there were only around 2,500 such addresses.

https://news.stv.tv/scotland/thousands-of-scottish-streets-too-dangerous-for-ambulance-crews-to-attend-without-police-back-up-figures-show

You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but it is much more than just likely, that addresses are lingering on this self-perpetuating list way beyond any actual present threat.

I’ve just sent a FOI request in to the SAS to ask when addresses are removed, after 1 year, 2 years, 3 years….only when the occupants move on? In a house where a young drug addict or someone with a mental health problem lashes out and it never happens again, for how long is this address red-flagged?

Many of us have worked in institutions where the updating of information is not well-supported and past-it data live on for years.