Concerns over £570,000 Police Community Action Teams

Crime reports have cast serious doubt over the effectiveness of the Borders Police Community Action Teams leading to concerns of double taxation.
The Borders' Police Community Action Team in 2020.The Borders' Police Community Action Team in 2020.
The Borders' Police Community Action Team in 2020.

A Peebles community councillor criticised police for failing to record crime effectively, and claimed that figures produced by Police Scotland were replicated on reports of the council-tax funded Community Action Team.

Peter Maudsley said he had analysed reports over an 18 month period dubbing them “very poor”.

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At a meeting of the town’s community council he said: “We are discussing the Community Action Teams, and whether they are a valuable addition to policing or not.

"What I saw last month, under the heading of serious and organised crime, there were a number of seizures of varying amounts of drugs and cash. And then under CAT report, identical figures. So it rather seemed to me that there was double accounting going on in that particular area.”

It was highlighted that there were many instances of duplicated figures throughout reports.

Mr Maudsley added: “From my perspective, I find this issue with the Community Action Team sightly concerning, because I, like everyone else, pay taxes to the state and then local taxes through the council tax. If indeed the local councils are subsidising the police, and in this case to the level of £570,000 a year, I find that annoying that there is some double taxation going on there.”

Scottish Borders Council announced that a review of the CAT will take place this year.