Price of police pensions

What price the bobby on the beat? The Scottish Government and police chiefs are investing much, in policy initiatives and hard cash, to put more officers on the front line and make communities safer. There is widespread support for the strategy. Evidence shows that a police presence on the streets acts as a deterrent to criminality. If crime rates go down, communities should feel more secure and fewer members of the public should report in surveys a fear of crime that tends to be disproportionate to the reality of law-breaking behaviour. From every perspective (apart, of course, from that of the criminal) investing in community policing should be a win-win strategy.