The detective leading Scotland’s battle against violent crime yesterday said he would rather have extra professionals from the caring sector than more frontline police officers.

More than 200 teenage drug and alcohol abusers are being sent to adult psychiatric wards every year rather than units with facilities for adolescents, figures revealed yesterday. Ministers admitted there were 206 people aged 12-20 with drug and alcohol problems in wards for adults in 2004-05, the latest year for which there are figures.

Police have formally apologised for taking 11 weeks to interview a man suspected of a serious sexual assault at a home for disabled young adults. One of Scotland’s most senior officers said the investigation into the alleged attack “should have been more robust” and fell short of normal standards.

Managers of Scotland’s wheelchair services have threatened to pull out of talks over its future unless there is a commitment for more funding. A recent review of the NHS Wheelchair and Seating Service said funding for it should be doubled to £30m a year.

A police officer is being held after being arrested over an alleged indecency offence. The 45-year-old officer, with Strathclyde Police, was detained after an incident in Glasgow on Saturday.

Super-strong cannabis is “rewiring” youngsters’ brains, Scotland’s top drug cop warned yesterday. Graeme Pearson, head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said the “skunk” now being sold on our streets is far more potent than the cannabis smoked by hippies in the 60s.

A new report, backed by a coalition of charities, has said Government efforts to relieve poverty have failed since devolution. The report, Voices Of People Experiencing Poverty in Scotland, calls on the Scottish Executive and Westminster to do more to tackle low pay and poverty – and allow asylum seekers the right to work.

The next national census will offer detail options for their ethnic background, while the English will be asked if they define themselves as black or white.

A boy aged 13 collapsed in his classroom after taking drugs he allegedly bought from a fellow pupil in the playground, it emerged yesterday. The youngster, who attends a school in Lanarkshire, is t to have become ill shortly after swallowing three diazepam pills.

A confidential register of vulnerable children should be set up and managed by a single agency, Scotland’s police watchdog recommends today.