Non-Subscriber Extract
Bonus buster
03 February 2010
Cinderella man John Pollock says policing 'has not been seen as sufficiently important' compared with other services in Scotland (Ben Stansall)
Q. What issues are facing superintendents and chief superintendents in Scotland today?
A. The lack of funding for policing in Scotland. My view is that when we look at funding for the public sector in Scotland, in 1999 we were already something like 12.5 per cent of the health budget within the justice budget, now that has reduced and we have 10.6 per cent. Over time [funding for] justice, which was already a small sum, has dwindled still further when you take into account the dispersal to public funds. Because of that, there is insufficient funding for prisons, which is why there is not enough diversionary work done in prisons and why prison populations still have offenders coming out still having a drugs problem.