Subj: Scotland: Police accuse study of manipulating figures for time spent in court



Date: 21 Sep, 1998



Source: The Scotsman







Police accuse study of manipulating figures for time spent in court

David Jack



POLICE have attacked a government report published today 

which says the number of officers who have to attend court 

hearings has fallen by 40 per cent. The Scottish Office 

study shows that not as many officers are being cited as 

witnesses and that overtime costs have fallen.



Henry  McLeish, Scottish home affairs minister, welcomed the 

findings, saying that savings would allow the police to 

concentrate on fighting crime. "This should mean that police 

officers are able to spend more of their time on the front 

line doing what they do best - ensuring the safety of the 

people of Scotland, he said.



His comments come just six days after the Government's 

Scottish Crime Survey recorded an 8 per cent drop in crime.



However, police organisations reacted with surprise to Mr 

McLeish's comments and the report. They have accused the 

Scottish Office of manipulating the figures. Chief 

Superintendent Stewart Davidson, of the Association of 

Scottish  Police  Superintendents' Association, said: "I 

would like to see exactly what their evidence is based on 

because it's our experience that too many police officers 

are spending time in court, I feel there is a manipulation 

of the figures.



"There's a feeling of impotence about the whole system. It's 

a major drain on police resources and a gross waste of 

time."



One senior Scottish Police Federation official said officers 

would not be able to accept the report - 'From Citation to 

Witness Stand: A Study of Police Witness Duty at Court'.



"I honestly can't believe these figures and I'm just trying 

to work out in my mind how they've rnanipulated them," said 

the official.



Another police representative said that attending court was 

the biggest frustration facing officers. He accused the 

judiciary of dragging its feet.



The report was based on research carried out last year, 

including a survey of all police personnel cited to attend 

court during a five-day period and a series of interviews 

with officers, procurator-fiscals and court staff. The 

findings were compared with a 1991 study.



The new report claimed that because of legislative changes 

affecting criminal procedure, the number of officers 

attending court on any given day had been cut by 41.6 per 

cent from an average of 694 to 405. It also revealed that 

the number of officers having to be available for court had 

dropped by more than 40 per cent; that the number of 

officers cited as witnesses had fallen by 9 per cent; and 

that the number of those called to appear on a rest day had 

dropped from 22 per cent to 20 per cent.



Researchers also found that 49 per cent of all police 

personnel who attended court were entitled to overtime 

payment and/or time off in lieu compared with 56 per cent in 

1991. The report concluded that the drop in actual court 

attendance had been achieved because officers were allowed 

to "stand by" at police stations while waiting to be called, 

rather than at court itself.



However, police representatives said it was bogus to drop 

officers waiting at stations from the overall figures.



David Yule, the chairman of Strathclyde Police Federation, 

said: "All they've done is replaced a court waiting room 

with a station waiting room. There's a limit on what the 

officer can do as he has to be able to get to court. He 

can't go out an deal with a road traffic accident or an 

incident and then just leave."



Mr Yule said an experiment on officers on stand-by had been 

dumped in Strathclyde last year because of these problems,



"I find it hard to believe there's been a reduction of 40 

per cent. I wouldn't like to go out on a limb and say 

they're lying but it's hard to believe."