News

20 January 2010
SCOTTISH POLICING PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK (SPPF) 2008/09

 

The second annual Scottish Policing Performance Framework report issued in January 2010 shows that recorded crime in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level for more than 25 years, while detection rates continue to rise.  Among the most notable crime falls recorded are violent, sexual and property damage crimes, though a small rise (less than one percent) in dishonesty crime has been recorded.

Mr Shearer, President of ACPOS, welcomed publication of the report saying, “the results reflect the hard work of all our officers and staff and the partners we work with to protect our communities and keep people safe.”

The Scottish Policing Performance Report also features the broader range of performance information, including Service Response; Public Reassurance & Community Safety; Criminal Justice & Tackling Crime and; Sound Governance & Efficiency and demonstrates the wide range of critical issues that the police service responds to.  The report details performance statistics across a wide spectrum of issues such as public confidence and user satisfaction; recorded crime; working with criminal justice partners; and police personnel

Across the range of issues reflected in the SPPF 2008/09, there is clear progress in many areas, including improvement in time taken to answer 999 emergency calls.

Mr Shearer who also leads the ACPOS Performance portfolio said: -

“The officers of all Scottish Police forces are firmly committed to protecting the public and delivering the best service possible to the people of Scotland.

“There are areas however, where we must continue to drive improvement.  While the majority of the public express confidence in the police service, particularly in relation to dealing with incidents happening, investigating and solving crime that has occurred, and catching criminals, about a third of people [variously between 28% and 36%] stated that they did ‘not feel very confident’; with a minority of those feeling ‘not at all confident.’

“Gaining and maintaining the trust and confidence of people and communities is the cornerstone of effective policing. Having that confidence is important to us and it is vital if we are to further improve our performance in protecting communities.

“We hope that by driving public confidence higher, we can also increase the level of crime reporting, which has remained fairly static over the last year. The knock-on effect of confidence and reporting is that we have better information to allow us to target our officers to the right place at the right time.  We also need to work to assure people that by working together; we can be effective in preventing crime.

“Our commitment to Community Policing, tackling the crimes that damage the very heart of our communities, violent crime, vandalism, disorder and anti-social behaviour has never been stronger.  Working with our partners in councils, other emergency services, health and criminal justice is also important if we are to continue to be successful.”

The SPPF 2008/9 also highlights the small number of minority ethnic officers within the Scottish Policing Service.  Forces actively encourage applications from people from groups that are under-represented within the service and from people of minority backgrounds. 

Mr Shearer said,

“It is important that focus remains on ensuring that we work towards creating a workforce that reflects our communities.  While significant improvement has been made in achieving better gender balance, we have been far less successful in other areas, and particularly in relation to recruiting minority ethnic people.  Improving the diversity of our workforce profile will become increasingly challenging as we approach the end of a major Scotland-wide officer recruitment drive that will mean reduced future recruitment needs.”

The police service in Scotland takes note of the SPPF 2008/2009, welcomes the improved performance it highlights and acknowledges that within a continually improving service, there is always more to be done.

Mr Shearer concluded,

“This publication shows many encouraging trends and we are determined to build upon these as we seek to reduce crime and keep all of our communities safe.

SPPF Annual Report 2008/09 »