Traffic and litter wardens should help to police sectarian parades in a bid to bring down their cost the public purse, according to Scottish Government advisor.
In a major reported published this month Michael Rosie of Edinburgh University warned of the “considerable” bills faced by the national force as it tried to marshall marches.
He suggest council staff - such as traffic wardens and community enforcement officers - could step in and take up some of the work usually carried out by officers.
The idea comes after Chief Constable Iain Livingstone late last year said policing parades presented a ‘significant challenge” and was unsustainable. One march in September of last year cost the force £176,000.
Scotland has seen a rise in marching in recent years with traditional Orange and Republican marches augmented by a new wave of moving political rallies. All have significant logistical costs - and cause disruption. All have been cancelled this summer because of the coronavirus.
Mr Rosie has expressed a hope this pause can be used to look at issues surrounding them.
In his report, he said: “It is necessary to recognise the considerable costs that public bodies, not least Police Scotland, can occasionally face in facilitating marches and parades.
“This report heard, in particular, of the impact on staffing resilience and morale for Police Scotland over events in Glasgow and it is important to note these. It may be useful to consider whether other agencies – such as traffic/parking wardens or community enforcement officers - could be co-opted into the more routine aspects of policing parades such as managing traffic.”
Mr Rosie said this would also free up strategic or operational officers to deal with trickier issues while wardens dealt with cars. He urged the national force to enter talks with local councils on the issue.
Glasgow usually has the biggest concentration of marching.
Mr Rosie criticised the city this weekend for not doing enough to promote dialogue with marching organisations.
The council countered by saying it was trying to engage - acknowledging that its relationships could be “delicate”.
The city does already contribute to supporting safety at marches - routinely mobilising its mixed and mobile CCTV and it was the first community in Scotland to place a responsibility for event-style planning on march organisers, through its local policy and code of conduct.
That his sets clear expectations around stewarding and a range of other activity – and involves early and ongoing dialogue between the police, council and organisers.
The council has clashed with loyal orders over the routing of Orange Walks. But Glasgow routinely tries to get large parades - such as those held by the pro-independence All Under One Banner group - to walk from one park to another in order not to clog up streets before the beginning and after the end of the march.
A spokesman said: “Decisions about the level and type of policing required at public processions are, quite rightly, for Police Scotland and they play an invaluable role in working with organisers during the planning of events – not just during the march itself.”
The police, meanwhile, gave little away about what they think of traffic wardens at marches.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said: "Police Scotland welcomes Dr Rosie's review and the finding that the vast majority of processions, assemblies and protests are conducted, facilitated and policed with good will and professionalism.
“Police Scotland has already undertaken its own review and is committed to continuing to work closely with all those involved to implement the recommendations in the review."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel