A breakdown in Police Scotland’s IT system left some officers unable to request backup.
Workers in a control room in Dundee had to use hand-held radios to communicate with officers on the beat after the computer system crashed.
Half of the terminals that serve as the link between beat officers and staff co-ordinating responses were out of operation last weekend. Communications broke down multiple times on Friday and Saturday, some of the busiest days for police to receive distress calls.
An email to control room staff by Paul McCord, a duty inspector, confirmed that “server issues” led to 50 per cent of the communications terminals being unavailable.
In the note he insisted that the problems had been “resolved and should be stable over the remainder of the weekend” with “business as usual” expected by Tuesday.
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Inspector McCord said that six alternative workstations could be used for any major incidents, which included a CCTV communications terminal in Perth. Liam Kerr, the shadow justice spokesman, said that the incident had jeopardised the safety of the police and the public.
“Police Scotland is extremely fortunate a major incident did not occur while this failing was in progress,” he said. “It is completely unfair of Police Scotland to reduce hardworking officers in Dundee to the role of Keystone Cops.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Police Authority said: “We are confident that there was no impact in the local area.”