Police officers are being encouraged not to arrest people, according to the head of the Scottish Police Federation. General secretary David Kennedy said Police Scotland lacks the capacity to make arrests at the rate it once did.
Arrest Numbers Decline
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast show, Mr Kennedy said: “The criminal justice (system) changed. What’s happened is officers are encouraged not to arrest people. That’s the reality. That’s what’s happened, and with the amount of police offices and stations closed, the custody suites are no longer there.”
He added: “They don’t have the capacity anymore to arrest the amount of people they used to arrest. So it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that’s happened because if they were to arrest continually, they can’t. They do not have the amount of cells they would require to do so.”
Concerns Raised by Senior Officers
His comments followed a letter from Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, in The Herald, which warned: “The decline in arrest numbers should concern the public.”
The letter responded to Chief Constable Jo Farrell’s annual report to the Scottish Police Authority, which revealed there were 15,451 fewer arrests where an accused had been brought to a custody centre in 2025-26. Ms Farrell said there were 83,765 instances of people being taken to a custody centre, down from 99,216 in 2024-25.
Public Faith in Officers
Mr Kennedy assured the public they should continue to have “faith” in Police Scotland officers – but “not necessarily” in the organisation itself. He explained: “That’s down to the fact that they’ve been stripped of the financial capability to make sure that we have enough police officers to do the job they’re meant to do, and the reality is at the moment we don’t.”
He concluded: “The problem is the organisation can’t cope. We don’t have enough police officers.”
