AYRSHIRE'S top cop has set out a planned date for the introduction of police body cameras in Ayrshire.

It is hoped that in the beginning of next year, the equipment will be provided across the county.

It was announced in June that Police Scotland had agreed a national contract worth £13.3 million for the introduction of these devices across its force in the next three years.

And their use locally was discussed at a recent meeting of North Ayrshire Council's police, fire and rescue committee.

This meeting was told a number of statistics in relation to reported crimes across the county during the first quarter of this financial year, from the beginning of April up to the end of June.

Addressing the committee, Chief Superintendent Raymond Higgins, who is responsible for all policing in Ayrshire, detailed the reported assaults on police officers in North Ayrshire during this time.

A total of 53 members of the force were victims of reported offences of this nature, with 13 requiring further treatment as a result of injuries sustained from "bites, punches and kicks".

Chief Superintendent Higgins added further context to the situation with regard to a specific offence, not detailed in the report brought before the committee.

He said: “No later than the updates I got this morning, from over the weekend, we’ve got a 15-year-old girl who’s assaulted one of my members of staff – quite significantly.

“The actions that we had to take to deal with that are concerning.

“That’s what’s faced, unfortunately, in certain small numbers of our community, assaulting our officers trying to do their job.”

Various committee members raised concerns about this statistics, including Councillor Scott Davidson.

Cllr Davidson commented: “I was quite taken aback by the numbers (of attacks on police officers), we're all in agreement that attacks on people at their work – whether it’s police or any other – is unacceptable.”

He then asked the chief superintendent what plans were in place to support those who were victims of such attacks.

Mr Higgins responded: “I’m very fortunate in Ayrshire that we’ve got a really strong, really good, really committed team working.

“There is no way any of these officers should face these and the scale of these assaults is sometimes two or three times a night.

“It is a very small number of individuals in our communities that are consistently doing it over time and sometimes targeting our younger officers or female officers, thinking they are vulnerable.

“I personally believe, and really hope, that once we get the body worn videos that will make a difference and reduce them significantly.”

This led to another committee member, Councillor Davina McTiernan, asking the chief superintendent if there was a date police in Ayrshire were expecting body camera vests to be provided.

He said: “I would realistically hope that in the earlier part of 2025 is when this would be rolled out in Ayrshire.

“The problem is with the capital investment needed to deliver this.

“There has been a will and desire to have this for years in Police Scotland, we just haven’t been able to secure the capital funding for the digital infrastructure.

“The programme is well advanced now, it starts in Tayside then it starts to get rolled out across the country.

“I think we will see a reduction and we will be able to identify the repeat offenders and get them in front of a court.”