Neighbour disputes, public nuisance and noise complaints up sharply as result of Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, says Police Scotland
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POLICE have reported a sharp surge in incidents of public nuisance, neighbourhood disputes and noise complaints during the pandemic.
The force revealed that incidents of public nuisance more than doubled year-on-year over the period between April and December (up from 56,936 to 123,979 or 117.8 per cent).
Neighbour disputes also jumped (rising from 16,021 to 22,930 or 43.1 per cent), while noise complaints were up 18.5 per cent (rising from 43,288 to 51,277).
Police Scotland believes the sharp jumps in these types of offences were the result of "the challenges of coronavirus".
The force also registered an increase in calls year-on-year of around 25,000.
Police Scotland said that it received almost two million 999 and 101 calls between April and December.
Although emergency calls fell by 5.1 per cent – from 488,420 to 463,457 – the number of 101 calls increased from 1,479,901 to 1,529,861 (or 3.4 per cent).
It meant that the combined number of calls increased by 24,997 from 1,968,321 to 1,993,318 – a rise of 1.3 per cent.
New figures released this week also showed that 999 calls took an average of eight seconds to answer, while 101 calls had an average pick-up time of two minutes and 37 seconds.
A total of 1,237,689 incidents were recorded during the period, a reduction of 4.7 per cent on the same period in 2019-20 (1,298,431).
Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Taylor said: “Officers and staff continue to play a key role in the national effort to combat the spread of coronavirus, while they face the same personal and professional challenges as their fellow citizens
“There has been an increase in the number of calls from members of the public during this period and the dedicated team within our Contact, Command and Control (C3) Division continues to provide an essential service to our communities in difficult circumstances.
“Our service centres are operating successfully with reduced capacity due to physical distancing requirements, while also coping with increased call demand from the public seeking guidance on coronavirus related issues.
“While some callers using the 101 non-emergency number have had to wait longer than normal to have their call answered during this time, emergency 999 calls are prioritised and I am grateful to the officers and staff for their commitment to public service.
“As the Chief Constable has made clear, the Police Service of Scotland will always be here to help the public who we serve.”
The 2020-21 Quarter 3 Performance Report has been published on the Scottish Police Authority website ahead of a public meeting of the Authority’s Policing Performance Committee on Tuesday, 9 March, 2021. Associated Management Information is available on the Police Scotland website.
The data shows overall recorded crimes (groups 1-5) are down from 187,334 during the same period last year to 174,999 while detection rates are up from 52.1% to 56.5%.
However, increases are noted in some specific offences, including domestic abuse (up 1.8%), online child sexual abuse (up 13.4%) and fraud (up 43.4%).
DCC Taylor said: “The public health crisis continues to influence the needs of our communities, however it may be years before we fully understand the impact of coronavirus on crime and policing demand in Scotland.
“More generally, while there has been a reduction in overall crime in recent years, we have seen a shift to more serious offences and increasingly complex and resource-intensive investigations.
“Policing must continue to enhance our specialist capacity and capability to protect the people of Scotland from threat, harm and risk in the public, private and virtual spaces.”
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