COWDENBEATH'S top cop has denied a claim that he doesn't have enough officers to police the area properly.
Community inspector Carley Marshall told councillors his resources were "finite" but that he can call in extra help, citing the recent youth disorder in the town and the assistance pulled in from elsewhere to try and deal with it.
A report on police activity in the area for 2024-25 was presented at the Cowdenbeath area committee.
Cllr Linda Erskine said: “There’s no doubt your team is extremely busy given the very small size of resource you have available for this area.
"I’m going to start with that as you can’t possibly have enough resources to deal with what the public expect you to deal with."
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The report said the Cowdenbeath community policing team consists of an inspector, sergeant and six community police officers.
The area is also served by five response teams who work on a 24/7 rotational shift pattern, and a West Fife community investigation unit - currently based in Dunfermline - that is formed of one sergeant and 12 officers.
Insp Marshall said: "We know how busy Cowdenbeath is. We feel it every day as we are in the middle of that storm, certainly compared to some of the other stations in Fife."
And he admitted to the committee: “I will never be satisfied with the number of officers I have here.
"Policing is such that no matter how many officers you give me I would always find work for them.
"This is because the spectrum of work that sits with us just now, the area of responsibility that sits with us, it’s gone away from your classic criminals.
"We’re now expected to address so many areas that are bordering on health and social work.
"Across Fife we have our basic numbers that we will work to, but we are part of a massive organisation now."
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He said that, to tackle the recent youth disorder issues in Cowdenbeath, they were able to call on "national" resources, officers from other divisions, police dogs and a drone unit to "give us an eye in the sky".
The inspector added: "So we do have access to national resources, we just sometimes need to be better and more proactive at asking for them and getting them."
He added that, in the last six months, local officers had also been pulled away to cover the visit of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance and to "migrant protests that have been happening across Scotland".
He went on: "You will be aware that we’ve had protests in relation to registered sex offenders in Fife and certain social media pages that have been stirring that up.
"One incident, even a localised protest against a registered sex offender, takes a lot of resources."
He said an incident in Levenmouth required 40 police officers because there were "150 to 200 members of the public protesting".
Insp Marshall said: "Our resources are finite. We only have so many.
"Our officers are either working overtime, having rest days cancelled or we’re pulling people in from other areas."
Cllr Erskine said: “I appreciate you have national resources you can call on but these national resources aren’t enough either.
"Personally, I’m beyond wonder that we have a president and vice president coming on holiday, not even an official visit, and to have our officers pulled from Fife or any place else to look after them is outrageous."
She went on: "I do get that if there are protests you have to cover them but the evidence is in your report.
"You’ve got six people plus a sergeant plus yourself. That team is not big enough to deal with all of the issues from Benarty to Crossgates to Cluny.
"It just isn’t enough. People are even giving up calling 101 because of that."
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