Pandemic costs Police Scotland almost £10 million
Coronavirus has cost Police Scotland nearly £10 million since it broke out in Scotland earlier this year.
The £9.48 million figure has been published ahead of the Scottish Police Authority meeting on Wednesday, with the majority spent on personal protective equipment and ICT.
Both of those supplies add up to £6.85 million of the total goods ordered as of Thursday May 7 – the day First Minister Nicola Sturgeon extended lockdown measures for a further three weeks.
A total of £2.89 million of supplies, services and ICT has been received by the force, with around £1.44 million of orders terminated.
Overtime and time off in lieu for staff also forms part of the costs in Operation Talla.
Until April 29, Police Scotland arranged for 827 employees to be tested, with 163 of those positive.
Further figures to emerge in the Policing Response to Covid-19 paper ahead of Wednesday’s meeting involve the legislation introduced as a result of the pandemic.
Since the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 and Coronavirus Act 2020 came into force on March 27, officers "across Scotland have engaged with individuals approximately 19,000 times".
The document states around 90% of those interactions resulted in no enforcement action being taken and the vast majority of the remainder being the issue of a fixed penalty notice.
Between Friday March 27 and 7am on Thursday April 23, Police Scotland issued 1,637 of the notices and made 78 arrests across the whole country.
The paper also highlights results from the Your Police Survey, which went live April 9.
Public confidence in Scottish policing sits at 66% but has increased since the lockdown by around 20%, according to the statistics.
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