The majority of residents say there are not enough police officers on the beat, according to a new report .
The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey found 56.7 per cent of people believe policing is short in Ayrshire The national average is 49.7 per cent and the Ayrshire viewpoint is greater than Glasgow which stands at 44.7 per cent and Edinburgh at 44.6 per cent.
The figure emerged the same week the Scottish Police Federation staged its annual conference at Turnberry Hotel.
Tory John Scott MSP has called on the SNP to deflect funding into putting more police in Ayrshire.
He: “We should all recognise the professional job done by police officers in what are undoubtedly extremely challenging circumstances, but the reality is that job is made much harder by the lack of adequate resources . At the Scottish Police Federation’s annual conference held at Turnberry, the concern was that there was just not enough officers on the frontline. It’s clear the Scottish Government needs to give our police a greater share of resources, so they can do the job of keeping us all safe.”
The survey asked Ayrshire people if their local bobbies patrol on foot - and only 11.7 per cent said yes. This figure has more than halved in the last five years. Nearly 10 per cent said they had seen police bicycle patrols in their area, and 33.3 per cent by car. Some 53 per cent believed the police did not patrol their area regularly.
Justice secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Tory hypocrisy in crying wolf over police numbers when in Scotland officers have risen by over 900 compared to a cut of 20,000 in England & Wales. The Survey shows that people are feeling safer in their communities than a decade ago.
“Recorded crime in Ayrshire has been reduced by more than a third (39%) since 2008-09. While the allocation of resources is for the Chief Constable and SPA to determine, we are committed to protecting Police Scotland’s revenue budget during this Parliament to deliver a £100 million boost by 2021.”
