Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf should be in no doubt about the scale of pressure on Scotland’s overstretched police.
He faced a long and brutal list of complaints in a tense encounter at SNP conference.
Scottish Police Federation chief Calum Steele calmly hit some nerves as he set out the facts.
One claim, which should send shockwaves through any complacent government, focused on rape cases.
It is outrageous that senior investigating officers are dealing with 100 cases at any given time.
Asked for a reasonable number, Steele said “four or five”.
Clearly something is wrong.
This is happening when rape cases are at record highs.
Victims of rape and other sexual assault have enough trauma to deal with. Worrying about whether the case will be properly handled should never be a factor.
But that’s what will happen if officers are swamped with work.
Yousaf was told in frank terms that the SNP will struggle to win votes when ordinary people start to see the reality of frontline policing.
The Scottish Government must stump up the cash or risk putting vulnerable people at even greater risk.
No time to lose
The Record’s campaign to tackle the scandal of drug deaths is making a real impact.
On Monday, the SNP membership backed a decriminalisation policy.
Yesterday the influential Scottish Drugs Forum hailed the move as a positive step forward.
Shocking drug-death figures in this country are an annual wake-up call.
But for too long the alarm was simply turned off while failing strategies were dusted down and put back into use.
Support groups were losing funds, police appeared to be fighting a losing battle.
The UK Government have their fingers in their ears, and the Scottish Government had been slow to act.
But the right people are now in the same room and radical discussions are being held, at last.
There is no time to lose - Scotland must keep up the pressure to end this national shame.
Life is sweet
Annette Peffers left Scotland for a new life in Australia - and now she’s a cake maker to stars like Johnny Depp.
That’s what you call a story with a sweet ending....
