In the Herald today:
Alarms have been raised that Police Scotland’s special constabulary is heading for “extinction” as new figures revealed there are almost 1,000 fewer officers on the beat than a decade ago. Data provided to the Scottish LibDems shows 409 special constables were in the force in 2022-23, compared to 1,394 in 2013-14 – a fall of 985.
As always with the Lib Dumbs, you never get the revealing percentage – there are 16 613, up from 16 570 last year, police officers so their 409 special constables, unpaid volunteers, represent only 2.4% of the force.
As for the alarm about these data, already in the public domain, so not requiring any effort from the Lib Dumbs, this 2021 research for Police Scotland, The Special Constable in Scotland: Understanding the motivations, expectations and the role of the Special Constabulary within Police Scotland, suggest they are more effort for the regulars to organise and look after, than they are worth:
‘I think… there’s a credibility issue amongst the police because a police officer relies on the person next to them in a car in a high pressure environment… I don’t think that anybody that’s only coming out one or two days a month could be expected to be that responsive… some might expect them to be the same standard operationally as they are, and that will never be the case because that operational deployment frequency isn’t there’
‘I’ve got someone who would struggle to take a statement… I think no matter the training they got it would always be too much for them…’ –
‘Before I took over the job, one shift a number of specials went out tougher, arranged a bus to go out and do an initiative…. They were going out in a group, and basically they went to a couple of calls and they were not dealt with properly. There were complaints put in. They were going about doing speeders, more complaints got put in. They didn’t report a serious assault properly. There was a lot of stuff that came out of it… and it took a good 18 months to break down barriers.
Sources:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/police-officer-quarterly-strength-statistics-30-september-2023/
Talking-up Scotland 
Does this Cole hammy get all his info
FROM THE LOCAL PUB MANAGER
IT SEEMS IF THE LIEDEMS ARE NOT LYING
THEY ARE TWISTING NON EXISTING INFORMATION
JUST IMAGINE THEM IN CHARGE OF SCOTLAND FURURE
THE LIES WOULD BE FLOWING LIKE SEWAGE
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I bet the sneaky Lib-Dumbs asked for this information under a public information request. Just looking for something to make a useless point about!
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Ah, another load of Bol’s…
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What you definitely won’t see in the herald is that a small group of protesters in Dundee city centre today standing giving speeches about the terrible slaughter of Palestinian people by Israel , were outnumbered by police who surrounded them.
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The Police are wasting £Millions on Rangers fiasco, show trial, campervan chaos. Arresting people without investigating. Instead of investigating then charging.
Instead of giving a caution, like before, for mild misdemeanours. Not enough diversity training.
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The LibDems illegally betrayed the students. Clegg now earning £millions as Facebook representative in Europe. Facebook tax evaders. ConDem austerity.
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Firstly, in regard to the work you put into rigorous research for the real data, thanks.
Secondly, in regard to the way in which you express those findings to counter the lazy and ambiguous mainstream reporting, again, thanks.
I wonder though whether increasingly you’re using Lib Dumbs etc in your writing? It seems to me that those sorts of terms are not helpful. I’d love to share your work with people who may be persuadable but I think these terms are likely to be off putting and may have a counter effect. Wings’ commentary became increasingly more difficult to take seriously partly because of this; speaking to his own bubble. It would be a pity for this to happen to your work. Thanks again though for all you do.
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‘Alarms have been raised’! ‘Alarms’?
Marked falls in numbers of Special Constables in UK police forces have been happening for a decade or more. The reduction in numbers in England and Wales has been reported from time to time in the BBC and mainstream media – notably without ‘alarms’!
Some stats: headcount for Special Constables in England and Wales, at March 2023:
England = 6,528 – down 19.8% compared to March 2022
Wales = 313 – down 23.3% compared to March 2022
Total for England + Wales = 6,841 at March 2023
Source https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2023
Statistic for March 2014:
Total for England + Wales = 17,789 – a decrease of 6.4 per cent compared with a year earlier
So, between March 2014 and March 2023 there has been a reduction in the number of Special Constables in England and Wales of 10,948 i.e. a drop in numbers by 61.5%. For whatever reason, there is a common pattern here: is it only in Scotland that a supposedly serious newspaper raises an ‘alarm’ and is content to be complicit in crass politicisation?
The Scottish Lib Dems press release on this issue reports a 71% drop in numbers of Special Constables in Scotland since 2013/14 and yes 71% is greater than 61.5%. It then associates this fall with the centralisation of Police Scotland – doing without presenting any evidence of a causal link. There has been no new centralisation of police forces in England or in Wales but still big falls in numbers of Special Constables. This is Lib Dem politicians and their researcher staff showing contempt for the voting public by use of spurious claims.
Notably, the above statistics for England and Wales are expressed as ‘headcount’: as Special Constables don’t have ‘contracted working hours’, the official data can’t provide an indication of Full Time Equivalent contributions to police operations! Also, the UK government document referenced above includes this on staff retention: ‘… worker types with higher turnover, such as special constables.’
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