General secretary David Kennedy said Police Scotland does not have the “capacity” to arrest the amount of people it used to. What’s happened is officers are encouraged not to arrest people. “They don’t have the capacity anymore to arrest the amount of people they used to arrest. Kennedy assured the public they should continue to have “faith” in Police Scotland officers – but “not necessarily” in the organisation itself. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Officers are not being encouraged to avoid making arrests and it is inaccurate to suggest otherwise.