POLICE Scotland has accused the Scottish Government of “underfunding” the single force in a Budget letter to MSPs.
Writing to the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing, deputy chief officer David Page was critical of the spending plans announced by new Finance Secretary Kate Forbes on February 6.
Under the plans, the officer said the capital budget at Police Scotland will suffer a real-terms drop which will mean modernisation plans will not be enacted this year.
Despite the force receiving an extra £17 million in its resource budget above what was expected before plans were announced, Page said Police Scotland will still face a £49m deficit in the next financial year.
In the letter, he said Police Scotland made the Scottish Government aware of the need for £74m in capital spending as far back as last summer but just £44.6m has been proposed in the draft budget, £5m of which is to be set aside to aid efforts to decarbonise the police fleet.
He wrote: “We are disappointed that the 2020-21 draft budget continues the long-term trend of Police Scotland being structurally underfunded.”
He went on: “This means, for example, that we will only be able to issue mobile devices to some of our officers, nor will we be able to commence the work to equip Police Scotland officers with body-worn video (BWV).
“This equipment, which is basic equipment issued to officers in England and Wales, was one of the key recommendations made by Dame Elish Angiolini’s independent review into complaints handling, investigations and misconduct issues.
“This is a vital piece of equipment to assist in the safeguarding of officers health and safety and can be a key tool in the investigation of complaints against the police.”
The capital budget is also used for maintenance of the police estate, which has been reported in recent months to be in need of repair in several places across Scotland, including a premises in Broughty Ferry where the roof collapsed last month.
Page claimed stations across the country would continue to deteriorate if funding is not made available, saying: “There will be less than half the level of funding required to maintain the policing estate at its current low level, so further deterioration and failure can be expected in 2020-21.”
Tory MSP Liam Kerr said: “There’s no excuse for this underinvestment, given the huge swathes of cash going into policing down south, which means the SNP has Barnett consequentials to spend here. The new Finance Secretary needs to take these calls seriously and think again about putting more cash into this most vital of public services.”
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