KATE FOSTER
HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

POLICING levels in Scotland are being plunged into crisis because of this summer's G8 summit, with hundreds of frontline officers being taken off the streets and response times increasing to as much as 24 hours.

And senior officers fear that, despite weeks of training, community policemen in charge of tackling violent troublemakers are simply not up to the job.

Ten thousand police will be on duty or on standby when the leaders of the world's most powerful countries meet in Gleneagles, Perthshire, from July 6 to 8. Thousands of officers have already been taken away from their ordinary duties to help with organising and contingency planning, intelligence gathering and to take part in riot training.

But last night officers revealed the summit was already compromising public safety and voiced serious concerns that some officers would be unable to cope with violent protesters.

One source at Lothian and Borders Police said: "Obviously the preparations for the G8 summit are having an impact on day-to-day policing. Officer numbers are depleted on a daily basis. Officially they will say we are managing, but the reality is more pressure on those left at home.

"Victims of crime are waiting longer for us to turn up. For non-urgent crimes - a shed being broken into or minor car crime - you might have had to wait two hours normally, but at the moment we might not be able to get there until the next day.

"We have a lot to do as we have to protect the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace."

Such concerns were last night backed by Ian Woodhead, secretary of the Lothian branch of the Scottish Police Federation. "The preparations for G8 and the subsequent requirement for training has left resources woefully low at times," he said.

About 200,000 protesters are expected in Edinburgh on July 2 for a Make Poverty History march. Although police hope the event will be peaceful, there are fears that it may attract anti-capitalist and anti-globalisation extremists.

Tayside Police are also under huge pressure as the G8 conference takes place on their patch.

Malcolm Gibbs, secretary of the Tayside branch of the Scottish Police Federation, warned:

"Operational safety is reaching a dangerous level.

"It is impacting on every force as it's the same percentage of officers being involved - about 30%-40% of the total strength. In our force that's 300-400 out of 1,100, although they are not all going away at the same time. The remainder are left to police the streets."

More than 700 officers have been sent to the former Law Hospital in Lanarkshire to learn specialist civil order control techniques as part of the huge security operation.

But police insiders have revealed deep concerns about whether officers are fit for the job. Several are already said to have abandoned training because they were unhappy with what they were being asked to do, although that claim is denied by officials.

A Grampian Police source said: "This conference is happening in frontline Europe and it will be easy as pie for trouble-making protesters to get here.

"I hope nothing happens. But if it does, I am seriously concerned about the attitudes of the community policemen facing these rioters. We are training people who have said they don't like what they are being asked to do.

"I am afraid that if it all kicks off we will get caught with our pants around our ankles."

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland last night denied there were problems either with policing the G8 summit or with force resources.

He said: "We have regular discussions with police federations and we have not received representations from anyone about these concerns.

"It is completely untrue that officers have refused to take part in public order training."

BBC UNIONS' STRIKE THREAT

BBC journalists are threatening to strike during this summer's G8 summit in a move that could cause the corporation major embarrassment worldwide.

The three unions at the BBC - the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), BECTU and Amicus - have already voted for strike action on May 23, May 31 and June 1.

But Pete Murray, the deputy leader of the NUJ chapel, has said the G8 will be pencilled in for further action if the BBC does not back down over job cuts.

Murray said: "If our dispute is not resolved by the time of the G8 then we will look to strike during the summit. This is a serious issue for the BBC. They want to be the global broadcaster but it will cause them major embarrassment if their staff refuse to work during such an event. If the BBC does not change its attitude, we will take out these big events."

Unions claim the BBC has made no attempt to negotiate over 195 Scottish job cuts. The planned strikes are certain to disrupt BBC Scotland's television and radio output.