Gangs of Sinister, Feral Young Men Show Why Police Scotland Needs Extra £140 million

Police Scotland's Chief Constable Jo Farrell has sounded an alarm that politicians must heed....

This is the topic of my column, published in the Scotsman today (30th September 2025).

As a mix of graphs, charts, and special pleading, pre-budget funding bids by public services aren’t usually a riveting read. But this year’s plea from Police Scotland is different. It’s as much an alarm call as a financial document, in plain enough language that even the most wilful cannot misconstrue.

With over two years in post, Chief Constable Jo Farrell is in a hurry. She sees a host of new challenges and no chance of keeping pace given the present funding trajectory. The request for a £140 million more seems steep but it’s a fraction of the cash that’s been stripped out of Scotland’s policing in the last decade. The figures are stark and do not lie.

Since the formation of our national force 12 years ago, there are now 1,500 fewer police staff in Scotland and £2.5 billion, yes billion, has been stripped out of the police budget. Most public services have suffered in the last decade but none have been so systematically stripped as policing.

The Chief is right to spell out the consequences if we don’t alter course. We live in a time of challenge, change and a new age of protest.

Daft, kneejerk legislation like the proscription of ‘Palestine Action’ has not helped, but there are wider problems indicating a societal shift. The ongoing and successful operation against criminal gangs in central Scotland is a good example.

We have had gang wars before, but the recent spate has shown something different and sinister. The number of feral young men willing to carry out deadly violent attacks in support of their bosses is unprecedented. The levels of violence now faced by police likewise. Twenty police staff are assaulted every day in Scotland.

It’s easy to see how this has happened: the reduction in police numbers plus rising demand has stripped the streets of our towns and cities of their police. For many communities, the closure of their police station and removal of their community policeman is a matter of despair. Now the Chief Constable is determined to build back local policing.

Community policing is much misunderstood. It is not some cuddly relic of a bygone age but the very grassroots of good policing. It is local officers who gather upstream intelligence, spot trouble before it becomes a riot, and intervene early to prevent youngsters drifting to the dark side. In a fundamental way, community policing is the difference between a police service and a police force.

Building it back will not be easy or cheap but a pilot programme in the Falkirk area is showing it can be done. But to do so, the Chief is clear – some of the money lost in cuts needs to be returned to the force. The alternatives are stark. If policing is not adequately funded, they cannot provide the service we, the public, deserve.

The plea for close to £140m will surely be unwelcome in Scottish Government circles but we should welcome it for two reasons. First, it sets out a plan for the rebuilding of vital community policing, and second, it is a frank no-nonsense appraisal from our Chief Constable. We need such plain-speaking honesty.

Chief Constable Jo Farrell has sounded an alarm. We should all take heed.