Calls for local control over Glasgow police services have been rejected, as councillors instead backed moves for more local accountability and a better police complaints system.
Glasgow’s Labour leader had presented a motion to the city's full council asking them to write to the Scottish Government about the lack of local, operational accountability of police services.
Instead a joint SNP and Green amendment instructing council officers to bring a paper comparing different local police and fire scrutiny arrangements across Scotland was approved. The document will suggest potential opportunities to enhance the local accountability of these emergency services in Glasgow as Police Scotland celebrates its 10th anniversary.
READ MORE: Calls for Glasgow City Council to have more control over local policing
The amendment also supported the former Lord Advocate for the Scottish Government Dame Elish Angiolini’s proposal for an improved police complaints system.
In his original motion, councillor Redmond noted that Scotland now has the lowest number of police officers since 2008, officers in Scotland are the only officers in the UK not routinely equipped with body cameras and that figures, published in January, demonstrated a quarter of 101 calls were abandoned.
Councillor Redmond said: “Our communities have never felt more distant from their local police and that is no surprise with a reduction of 1000 police officers in Scotland since 2013 and in Glasgow alone we have lost 200 local police officers.
“How can our police properly serve our communities when they are stretched to the limit. Well over a quarter of 101 calls this year have been discontinued, with some people waiting up to 50 minutes to speak to an operator.
“This is clearly not good enough and more has to be done here. Glasgow deserves better than this and our communities deserve better than this.
“The amendment proposed by the SNP is straight out of their playbook - we might be bad but England is worse. The truth is that the SNP government has undermined Police Scotland time and time again with centralisation.
“They have reduced accountability and scrutiny making it harder for elected members like ourselves to hold local policing to account. Three or four [council] committee meetings a year is not enough.”
The SNP Green amendment highlighted the agreements between COSLA, Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority to work together to develop local scrutiny and accountability while strengthening the collaboration between local government and policing.
Bailie Paul McCabe also explained to members why some 101 calls may have been “abandoned”.
Councillor McCabe said: “The average speed to answer 101 calls is four minutes but as with all statistics it’s important to add context to these figures. Once a call is answered the caller has unlimited time to discuss their issues with the call handler. This is significant as most calls are coming from vulnerable citizens.
“It is vital that the call handler uses the time to establish as many facts around the call as possible and to give the caller as much time as they need.”
Bailie McCabe also points out that the Police and the Fire Reform Act of 2012 provides local authorities with responsibility for scrutiny and engagement arrangements of these services.
He added: “As chair of the Safe Glasgow Partnership I believe that the current scrutiny arrangements in Glasgow are robust, principled and built on solid foundations based on past learnings but any such processes should always be open to ongoing review.
“The Safe Glasgow Partnership has a broad scope and provides a platform for elected members to really probe local commanders for a better outcome for citizens and local communities.
“The tenth anniversary of the establishment of Police Scotland seems a good time to review Glasgow’s own arrangements and a good time for officers to bring a paper having looked at scrutiny practices in other local authorities in order to establish if there are any improvements which can strengthen Glasgow’s process further.”
Addressing sexism, misogyny and the “boys club” culture which is rife in all levels of Police Scotland is also a priority.
Green councillor Martha Wardrop said: “I am aware of how important local police officers are and I appreciate the opportunity to meet with them regularly at the area partnership briefings that we get and also through the community council work they do.
“I do however have some concerns about some policing approaches - especially around COP26 when we received a lot of complaints. There were serious concerns about police tactics used against protesters.
“The closure of Kelvinway resulted in people being directed to walk through Kelvingrove Park late at night which created fear and alarm.”
The Green amendment also highlights the need for the council to ensure every citizen can easily access an efficient complaints procedure and supports Dame Elish Angiolini’s proposal for an improved police complaints system.
Councillor Wardrop added: “The police need to work more closely with elected members and council departments. We want to work together to deal with sexism and misogyny at all levels across the police service.
“Greens want the council to work with COSLA and the Safe Glasgow Partnership to review the local accountability and scrutiny of policing. This work will include support for and the facilitation of people’s right to protest.”
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