Executive Accused In North East Crime Fight

A North-east community safety leader has accused the Scottish Executive of shirking its responsibility for fighting crime. Councils and the police were being left to tackle the problems blighting communities and take the blame for disorder, claimed Councillor Martin Greig, vice-convener of Grampian Joint Police Board.

He said that, despite the success of new antisocial-behaviour legislation in the region, the executive was not doing enough to tackle the root causes of crime and called for a review of the way funding was allocated to support safety initiatives.

“It is disappointing when the Scottish Executive tries to avoid responsibility for fighting crime and instead just passes the blame for crime and disorder to councils and the police,” Mr Greig said.

“There is a real eagerness to create a blame culture on law-and-order issues so that, when there is criticism, the Government tries to avoid responsibility by pointing the finger at local government.

“Law and order has always been traditionally the job of national government, not councils. The Scottish Executive has started to try to change this.”

An executive spokeswoman said tackling antisocial behaviour was a top priority and new powers and £120million had been made available to councils to ensure local needs were met.

North East Labour MSP Richard Baker also hit back at Mr Greig’s comments, saying he was “staggered” by his claims.

“I can’t understand where he’s coming from,” said Mr Baker.

“Surely the police are the agency to fight crime and they are being given the money and the resources to do that.

“Grampian Police’s funding has been increased significantly. Does Councillor Greig expect members of the Scottish Executive to become some kind of caped crusaders?

“His point of view is extraordinary. He needs to stop trying to make bizarre political points about this.”

Mr Greig, a Liberal Democrat councillor who chairs the Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership, said antisocial-behaviour laws introduced in 2004 had been put to good use in the city.

New dispersal powers were used by Grampian Police in March last year to ban groups of drivers from Beach Boulevard.

Four orders have been taken out to evict nuisance neighbours from their homes, including two suspected drug dealers and a convicted brothel madam.

Currently, there are 37 Antisocial Behaviour Orders (Asbos) in force across Aberdeen.

“Aberdeen City Council is working hard in partnership with organisations like Grampian Police to fight against crime and antisocial behaviour,” said Mr Greig, who represents the Ashley ward.

“The city has one of the best and most innovative records in Scotland in tackling these issues. However, there is still a great deal more that needs to be done.

“The support and co-operation of the Scottish Executive is required in the campaign to improve safety.”

The councillor also called for a review of the method used to allocate funding, claiming the Granite City was having to make do with scant resources to support community safety programmes compared with neighbouring Dundee.

The City of Discovery has emerged more than £1million better off than Aberdeen in a series of executive awards to tackle antisocial behaviour, despite having a much lower population.

“Economic deprivation sways things in Dundee’s favour, yet the same problems exist in Aberdeen,” said Mr Greig.

“We have more people in high-income brackets.

“That skews things in terms of allocating funding and overlooks the problems of crime in areas of deprivation in Aberdeen.

“Dundee and some other councils in Lanarkshire get more money even though they have lower populations.

“I don’t feel Aberdeen gets a good deal because of this formula. It needs to be reviewed.”

Last year, it was announced that Aberdeen, with a population of 202,000, was to receive £3.6million over two years to fund community safety initiatives. Dundee, home to 142,000, was allocated £4.5million.

When new antisocial-behaviour measures were introduced in 2004, Dundee received nearly £280,000 more than Aberdeen to implement the new legislation.

A spokeswoman for the executive said: “Tackling antisocial behaviour is a top priority for the Scottish Executive. This is why we introduced the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 and why we have made £120million available to local authorities to deliver real, tangible outcomes in communities suffering from antisocial behaviour.

“An antisocial behaviour accountability framework has been developed alongside Cosla – the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities – and other key partners to monitor and evaluate the national strategy.

“Local authorities have been given record amounts of money since 1999. It is up to them to distribute funding to meet local needs.”

Aberdeen North SNP MSP Brian Adam backed the call to review the formula for allocating funding.

“Funding for community safety should relate to the level of antisocial behaviour and crime,” he said.

“It’s insulting to people to make the link between the need to fund that and deprivation.”