GOVERNMENT MUST COME CLEAN ABOUT POLICE NUMBERS

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 23rd Oct 2007

Jim Hume, MSP for the South of Scotland, has called on the Scottish Government to come clean about its police policy. The MSP’s call comes on the day that the Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary gives evidence to the Justice Committee on policing resources. The Chief Constable is expected to call for more police officers, in line with the SNP’s manifesto promise of 1,000 new police officers in the first budget.

Jim Hume said:-

“We’ve all seen the Justice Secretary’s pathetic attempts on television to answer how many new police officers the SNP intend to recruit. It went a little like this: “er, um, er um. I find that, actually, a rather silly question”.

“Well, it’s not a silly question for the Chief Constable from my region.

“The Scottish Government must take the opportunity, today, in the Justice Committee to come clean about how many new police officers it will recruit.

The MSP continued:-

“I sit on Lothian and Borders Police Board where the Chief Constable has been tasked by the Scottish Government to cut costs by 1.75% - how then can he afford to recruit more officers to police our streets? It simply doesn’t add up – what the SNP are saying is totally at odds with what they are asking of our police forces.”