POLICE ACCUSE STUDY OF MANIPULATING FIGURES FOR TIME SPENT IN COURT

POLICE have attacked a government report published today which says the
number of officers who have to attend court hearings has fallen by 40 per
cent. The Scottish Office study shows that not as many officers are being
cited as witnesses and that overtime costs have fallen.

Henry McLeish, Scottish home affairs minister, welcomed the findings,
saying that savings would allow the police to concentrate on fighting
crime. "This should mean that police officers are able to spend more of
their time on the front line doing what they do best - ensuring the safety
of the people of Scotland, he said.

His comments come just six days after the Government's Scottish Crime
Survey recorded an 8 per cent drop in crime.

However, police organisations reacted with surprise to Mr McLeish's
comments and the report. They have accused the Scottish Office of
manipulating the figures. Chief Superintendent Stewart Davidson, of the
Association of Scottish Police Superintendents' Association, said: "I
would like to see exactly what their evidence is based on because it's our
experience that too many police officers are spending time in court, I feel
there is a manipulation of the figures.

"There's a feeling of impotence about the whole system. It's a major drain
on police resources and a gross waste of time."

One senior Scottish Police Federation official said officers would not be
able to accept the report - 'From Citation to Witness Stand: A Study of
Police Witness Duty at Court'.

"I honestly can't believe these figures and I'm just trying to work out in
my mind how they've rnanipulated them," said the official.

Another police representative said that attending court was the biggest
frustration facing officers. He accused the judiciary of dragging its feet.

The report was based on research carried out last year, including a survey
of all police personnel cited to attend court during a five-day period and
a series of interviews with officers, procurator-fiscals and court staff.
The findings were compared with a 1991 study.

The new report claimed that because of legislative changes affecting
criminal procedure, the number of officers attending court on any given day
had been cut by 41.6 per cent from an average of 694 to 405. It also
revealed that the number of officers having to be available for court had
dropped by more than 40 per cent; that the number of officers cited as
witnesses had fallen by 9 per cent; and that the number of those called to
appear on a rest day had dropped from 22 per cent to 20 per cent.

Researchers also found that 49 per cent of all police personnel who
attended court were entitled to overtime payment and/or time off in lieu
compared with 56 per cent in 1991. The report concluded that the drop in
actual court attendance had been achieved because officers were allowed to
"stand by" at police stations while waiting to be called, rather than at
court itself.

However, police representatives said it was bogus to drop officers waiting
at stations from the overall figures.

David Yule, the chairman of Strathclyde Police Federation, said: "All
they've done is replaced a court waiting room with a station waiting room.
There's a limit on what the officer can do as he has to be able to get to
court. He can't go out and deal with a road traffic accident or an incident
and then just leave."

Mr Yule said an experiment on officers on stand-by had been dumped in
Strathclyde last year because of these problems,

"I find it hard to believe there's been a reduction of 40 per cent. I
wouldn't like to go out on a limb and say they're lying but it's hard to
believe."


Checked-by: Pat Dolan