Donald Trump’s visit will ‘stretch all our resources’, warns Scottish superintendents association

The US president plans to stay in Scotland from July 25-29. He will visit his Scottish golf courses, meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Aberdeen and have talks with Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney.

The ASPS said there are expected to be major protests across the country, including from the Stop Trump Coalition, which is organising a ‘festival of resistance’.

President Trump’s last visit as president, in July 2018, prompted large-scale protests in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, which cost Police Scotland more than £3 million and required mutual aid from other UK forces, it added.

Concerns have already by raised by the Police Federation of England and Wales about the demands being placed on frontline policing with the redeployment of 1,500 officers from across the UK to support security arrangements around the President’s visit (see https://policeprofessional.com/news/us-presidents-visit-a-stark-illustration-of-how-stretched-policing-has-become/).

ASPS president, Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, said that with superintending ranks at their lowest levels in recent memory, it is concerned about the capacity and resilience of its members, particularly in times of high demand such as this summer, when leave has been cancelled.

He said: “The private visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland at the end of July will require the Police Service of Scotland to plan for and deliver a significant operation across the country over many days. This will undoubtedly stretch all our resources from local policing divisions to specialist and support functions such as contact, command and control.”

Chief Supt Hay added:  “Police superintendents and chief superintendents will be the backbone of the command structures, with many of our members taking on key leadership roles for planning and resourcing, intelligence gathering, command and control communications, armed operations, public order, and other specialist functions.”

He called for the public to be aware of the “significant demands that will be placed on policing services during this period, not only by President Trump’s visit, but also by the many popular events that Scotland hosts in the summer months, which bring thousands of tourists to our country and rely upon partnerships with policing to support their safe delivery”.

Meanwhile the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, David Kennedy, said that President Trump’s visit was “ a recipe for disaster”, adding: “We don’t have enough cops.”

He said the visit will mean police holidays and rest days would be cancelled, with many officers working 12-hour shifts.

“With this event, it is survival mode. That’s the mentality that will set in,” said Mr Kennedy.

“All this costs money and Police Scotland’s budget is already bust. Everybody working longer hours and days has a knock-on effect for months, if not years.”