NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of endangering the public by underfunding the police.
Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said the First Minister would be “putting the public at risk” if she did not increase Police Scotland's budget.
Ms Sturgeon said Mr Carlaw had an “absolute cheek” given the Tory government at Westminster had cut Holyrood’s budget by £1.5bilion over the past decade.
The row at First Minister’s Questions came after a series of police bodies warned the draft budget for 2020/21 was too low for Police Scotland’s needs.
The Scottish Police Authority, Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, and Scottish Police Federation said that in particular the capital budget - for vehicles, buildings and equipment - was far short of what the force required.
The Scottish Police Authority, which oversees the force’s £1.2bn budget, said a slight uplift was “significantly below below capital resources required”.
The Scottish Police Federation said it would ultimately “impede operational effectiveness”.
While the force itself complained it was being “structurally underfunded”.
Mr Carlaw said the budget was “wholly inadequate” and asked Ms Sturgeon what advice she had for Police Scotland on plugging the £49m black hole in its finances.
“Should it cut officer numbers, continue to let the ceilings fall down in police stations and much else besides, or fail to issue essential equipment?” he asked.
Ms Sturgeon said the SNP had kept officer numbers around 1000 up on the level inherited in 2007, while the Tories had cut 20,000 officers south of the border.
“Perhaps he should reflect on that,” she said.
Mr Carlaw said revenue funding was £13m short of what the police wanted, while capital funding was even more off the mark.
“That is at a time when the Scottish Government is receiving a funding uplift of £96m from the UK Government’s investment for extra spending on policing.
“Why is the First Minister shortchanging Scotland’s police officers?”
She replied: “The draft budget increases Police Scotland’s budget by £42m. In 2016/17, Police Scotland’s capital budget was £20m. In the draft budget.. it is £40m.
“In other words, it has doubled in the space of a couple of years.
“That capital budget includes £5m of extra funding that was specifically requested by the service to accelerate its commitment to greening its fleet.
“We will continue to do everything that we can to protect our front-line police officers.
“I say again that we are doing that against the backdrop of a £1.5 billion austerity reduction in our budget that has been imposed by the Conservatives.
“That means that Jackson Carlaw and his colleagues have an absolute cheek to talk about our public services. We will continue to put our public services first.
“If Jackson Carlaw has credible proposals to make and is willing to say how they should be funded, of course we will always listen.”
Mr Carlaw quoted the Scottish Police Federation warning this week that police officers were under mental and physical strain and often in working in unsatisfactory conditions.
“In some cases, through no fault of our own, we are not providng a service service the public,” the officers’ union said.
Mr Carlaw said: “The choice is clear—the First Minister must increase police funding or she will be putting the public at risk.”
Ms Sturgeon retorted: I lead a Government that has kept police numbers at 1,000 more than the level that we inherited. We have done that at a time when Jackson Carlaw’s party has slashed front-line police numbers by 20,000.
“That is the reality that every police officer across the UK is all too aware of.”
Later, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf told Holyrood’s policing committee that Police Scotland would “have to prioritise” its capital spending, even though it was receiving a real terms rise in 2020/21.
However he said he had faith the Chief Constable Iain Livingstone would do that.
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