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.

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.

John Vine, the Chief Constable of Tayside Police who is shortly to become head of the Border and Immigration Inspectorate, signs up to the strategy but has concerns about the ability of forces to deliver it. He tells The Herald today that the burden of meeting an expanding pension commitment could lead to officers being taken off the front line unless the Scottish Government helps with the cost of funding the police scheme. It is not a new refrain. Some two weeks ago, we warned of the risks in robbing Peter (community policing) to pay Paul (paying out to officers who can retire on full pension after 30 years' service).

It is estimated that the retiral costs of officers who joined up in the recruitment boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s could create a funding gap of £100m in police budgets over the next three years. More than 1200 are expected to retire by April 2010 alone. Chief constables and police board representatives have been talking to local authorities about options for filling the funding gap without a detrimental impact on frontline policing. The priority for the public, understandably, would be to protect the latter above guaranteeing that pension commitments were fulfilled.

But officers signed up to a deal and have contributed over many years to pension pots. A growing problem lies with the element funded by the taxpayer. The police scheme is one of five in the public domain that, aside from employee contributions, depend on the government (that is, the taxpayer) to meet obligations. Many taxpayers work in a private sector where company pension schemes have been downgraded and in some cases withdrawn.

The public appetite to provide assistance in a funding crisis, as with the police scheme, will be limited. When the alternative is a diminished police service, however, a bail-out might be required. This is a situation that could, and should, have been foreseen. It is unfortunate that provision was not made to tide over the tough years. The case has been made for a long, hard look at pension provision in the public sector and how it can be funded long-term without threatening frontline services or putting an onerous burden on the taxpayer.