Tayside Police's Approach to Budget Cuts

Tayside Police is one of many public sector organisations throughout Scotland facing significant budget constraints over the next few years. A small project team ‘Transforming Tayside’ has been formed to establish the best way that the Force can balance the financial demands with the needs of our communities and remodel Tayside Police in becoming a more streamlined organisation.

The Force will work as hard as possible to ensure that front line policing is maintained in a way that is expected by local communities and that we continue to work closely with partner agencies in an effort to coordinate our approach. It is, however, important to highlight that a great deal of important work is carried out by the police service that is not as obvious to the public but is essential in supporting safer communities throughout the Tayside Area.

In support of the work being carried out by the Transforming Tayside Team, Tayside Police welcomes suggestions or comments from the public that could help shape the future of our force. Anything you submit will be fed into our consultation process and considered in conjunction with the work we are conducting in force and with other agencies.

Since June this year, Tayside Police have been preparing for budget cuts with early indications suggesting that significant savings in excess of £18 million were to be found. In an organisation with a total budget of £77 million per year it was absolutely clear that reorganising and restructuring the force was required.

A recruitment freeze occurred relatively quickly in line with the majority of other Scottish Forces and voluntary redundancy became an inevitable expectation which has now become reality. Understanding our current structure and identifying immediate efficiencies was key with a clear message that the larger the savings the force can make, the fewer jobs would have to be released. To date the whole of Tayside Police are involved in trimming back costs, from basic energy savings to reduced printing, reduction on non essential training courses etc.

Through interviews with staff including practitioners, supervisors, commanders and those in charge of budgets, a large number of suggestions and proposals are being considered. Identifying good practices in other forces and understanding how they operate has also been helpful in selecting the best option for Tayside Police and work continues as we pull everything together.

Working with our neighbouring forces is another key area of work being carried out. Fife, Central Scotland and Lothian & Borders Police have all joined with Tayside in an effort to identify areas we can collaborate on.

On a national level Tayside Police are supporting the Sustainable Policing Project based at the Scottish Government, St Andrews House as they work towards their recommendations regarding the structure of policing in Scotland.

Working with other agencies to share services and best practice is being progressed with recent media reports detailing potential collaboration between Tayside Police, Tayside Fire Service as well as the local authorities.

It would be wrong to report that this will be an easy time for Tayside Police but there is a genuine and focused commitment to provide the professional service our communities have grown to expect. The reality is that there will be changes and as a service we will need to trim back on non essential roles which have evolved into a police function over decades of policing. Ultimately if you need a police officer for policing reasons there will be one there for you, however, we will have to concentrate and refocus on exactly what a police service needs to provide.