Make low level crimes a priority, says MSP

Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil is calling on police to respond quicker to non-emergency calls.

A significant number of constituents have contacted Mr McNeil to complain about undue delays in officers dealing with their crime reports, sometimes appearing at their door days after being called, for issues like broken windows.

When he looked into the problem, the MSP was shocked to find there was no national statistics to compare response times and target improvements.

He is now calling for this information to be collected and published so that police can be held accountable for response times to low level crimes.

Mr McNeil made that point to justice secretary Kenny McAskill in Parliament last week and believes it would help improve performance.

The MSP said: “It is a frustration that most people will have had experience of – low-level crime such as vandalism or anti-social behaviour that goes unpunished.

“I am sure it is just as frustrating for police, who are keen to catch the culprits but don’t have either the resources or the time to spend chasing up every enquiry.

“But I know that for those victims at the sharp end – those who have had their windows smashed, have been verbally abused in the street or kept up late at night by rowdy behaviour – expect the police to do what they can

“Unfortunately that is not the perception they get when they are put through to a call centre many miles from where they live and put to the back of the queue

“I have much sympathy with the police and respect the job that they are trying to do but we must always be striving to do better.

“That is why we should have a national standard by comparing performance and hopefully improving it.”

ENDS