Backlash as police officers in Scotland 'encouraged not to arrest people'

SNP ministers have been accused of overseeing an “abject surrender to criminals” after a senior police representative claimed officers are encouraged not to arrest people due to a lack of capacity.

It comes after David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said custody suites “are no longer there” because of the closure of police stations.

Police Scotland insisted the claims were inaccurate - but figures show there were almost 15,500 fewer arrests where an accused had been taken to custody in 2025/2026 when compared to the year before.

David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation | PA

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.

“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.”

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Chief Constable Jo Farrell’s recent annual report to the Scottish Police Authority revealed there had been 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.

In response, Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, warned: “The decline in arrest numbers should concern the public.”

Meanwhile, Mr Kennedy assured the public they should continue to have “faith” in Police Scotland officers, but “not necessarily” in the organisation itself.

He added: “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.

“The problem is the organisation can’t cope. We don’t have enough police officers.”

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr said: “It is shocking Scotland has reached the point where police are being encouraged not to arrest criminals, because under the SNP we have run out of prison space.

“Their relentless weakening of Scotland’s justice system has resulted in a total abject surrender to criminals.

“Not only might they get out of prison early under the nationalists, but they might not be put in a cell at all.

“Ministers should be apologising for miserably failing to build the prison places Scotland needs and for repeatedly using a sticking plaster solution of opening the gates early.

“Instead of continuing to prioritise criminals over victims, ministers should boost our prison capacity without any further delays, use overseas prison places while that work is going on, and provide the police with the resources they require to tackle crime.”

Police Scotland denied the claims and said that custody provision was in place for those who needed to be arrested and that less serious offences coud be dealt with direct measures, such as recorded warnings.

A spokesperson said: “Officers are not being encouraged to avoid making arrests and it is inaccurate to suggest otherwise.”

“The chief constable [Jo Farrell] has made it clear her priority is to strengthen our frontline and provide a visible, proactive policing presence in our communities across the country.

“We are rolling out a sustainable model for local policing which is focused on achieving safer communities, less crime, supported victims and a thriving workforce.

“By taking a proportionate response to crime and making appropriate use of direct measures such as recorded warnings for less serious offences, officers can focus on addressing threat, harm, risk, and vulnerability in our communities.

“Where an individual is required to be arrested and brought into custody, they will be and we have custody provision across Scotland to ensure we keep communities safe.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Police Scotland have made clear that officers are not being encouraged to avoid making arrests and that it is inaccurate to suggest otherwise.”

Scotland’s prison estate has struggled with overcrowding in recent years, with 8,453 people currently locked up in a system with a capacity of 7,805.

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Two new prisons are under construction in Glasgow and the Highlands, but the latter will be delayed until next spring as a result of “construction issues”.

The Scottish Prison Service has been instructed to “exhaust all options” to maximise the capacity of the existing estate, including building temporary structures to house prisoners.

Just ahead of the Holyrood summer recess, Justice Secretary Neil Gray announced new early release measures, including changes that could see prisoners handed a sentence of less than five years back out in the streets after serving 30 per cent of their term.

Meanwhile, the presumption against short sentences would be expanded from 12 months to 24, and long-term prisoners would be automatically released after serving only two-thirds of their sentence.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay previously said the changes would have seen his attacker, William Burns, who threw acid in his face in 2015 when Mr Findlay was working as an investigative journalist, released years earlier.

“We oppose the SNP's reckless bid to free long-term prisoners after serving just two-thirds of their sentences,” he said. “It means that thugs like William Burns will be let out automatically even when it's known they're a danger to the public.”

In June, Sara Snell, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, said Scotland’s jails are breaking the UN’s so-called Nelson Mandela rules on prisoner rights.

The biggest issue facing the prison estate, the inspector said, is the level of overcrowding, with jails sometimes feeling like “one big segregation unit”.