Scottish Borders break-in victim feared for her life during 'half-hour' wait for police to arrive

An elderly woman has said how she feared for her life when she called 999 during a break-in at her home in the middle of night.

She said she was waiting almost half-an-hour for police to attend.

Councillor Aileen Orr from Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders told a fringe event at the SNP conference in Edinburgh that with two men in her farmhouse, she was "crying on the phone thinking I was going to die" when she called for help.

Ms Orr claimed it took 29 minutes for Police Scotland officers to get to her home, adding that by that time the two intruders had fled.

Police Scotland said officers arrived on the scene at the "remote property" within 19 minutes of the call.

Ms Orr spoke about her ordeal at a fringe event organised by the Scottish Police Federation, whose general secretary David Kennedy said police officers are no longer in the community.

He added: "That is the problem, you don't see police officers in the community, working with the community."

Mr Kennedy, whose organisation represents rank-and-file officers, added: "The visible presence, it isn't there in policing any more. It's frightening. And that is a big concern for us.

"For somebody to wait that length of time on a 999 call, that's not acceptable. These are the parts that Police Scotland absolutely need to get right."

Ms Orr said while there are "some very good police officers in the Borders", but that there are "very few of them" overall.

She added: "I have a very, very good relationship with the local police, but I had a break-in on the farm early this year and I rang 999, because these boys were pretty violent, and I had to wait 29 minutes.

"I was literally crying on the phone thinking I was going to die."

"That person on the other side of the phone was amazing, totally amazing, but the fear while waiting for police can be so extreme."

She recalled how she was alone in her farmhouse and called 999 after hearing the two men "banging at the windows and banging at the door".

Speaking about the "pretty horrific experience", she added: "I got into the shower room, I could see down where the men were."

With the intruders, who have not been caught, "screaming", Ms Orr said the police operator she spoke to could hear them over the phone.

"She was feeding back to me to keep calm, and keeping me occupied," the councillor said.

Mr Kennedy told the meeting: "It is so important that the police, we are the community."

He insisted officers are "there to police the community and they need to be part of it", but added: "That has been eroded at the moment.

"If I was sitting in a rural community I would be really concerned at the moment about what is going to happen in the future."

He also used the event to claim resource issues mean officers are increasingly becoming burned out.

Mr Kennedy said: "What we are seeing more and more now is burn out, and that is burn out at a really, really early stage in their career.

"And that's down to resources. We're seeing at the moment a lot of police officers are now leaving the service and moving to other careers. They're tired, they're exhausted."

Justice Secretary Angela Constance, who was also at the fringe event, accepted: "Burnout is a real issue for police officers, as it is for nursing, Scottish Ambulance Service staff, social workers."

Ms Constance, herself a former social worker, added: "There is undoubtedly increasing demands on frontline workers, particularly frontline workers who are having to deal with emergency situations and people in crisis."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "At 12.34am on Saturday, 3 February, 2024officers were called to a report of men banging on a window at a remote property near Paxton.

"The reporter remained on the phone with the control room until officers arrived 19 minutes later.

"There was no trace of anyone in the surrounding area."

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