Scotland's overstretched police are escorting hundreds of huge wind farm parts every year – at a time when it has stopped investigating some crimes due to the pressures it faces.
Slow-moving lorries carrying turbine blades more than half the length of a football pitch have become a common sight in some Scottish towns and villages.
Now, new figures show the scale of the demands being heaped on specially trained officers called in to monitor the convoys.
At least 3,636 escorted journeys since 2017/18 are known to have involved turbines, although the true figure will be far higher due to the way the movement of other wind farm equipment is recorded.
Critics warn the transportation of the massive parts on huge vehicles is also damaging roads and tying up experienced officers at the expense of taxpayers.
Conservative MSP Edward Mountain, whose Highlands and Islands constituency is among the regions affected by the issue, said: ‘People in rural Scotland will be furious at the demands windfarm companies are placing on our hardworking and overstretched police force.
‘The hundreds of escorts which take place each year are symbolic of the damage caused to Scotland’s landscape by too many enormous windfarm projects.
'Residents and businesses already hate to see giant lorries lumbering through our countryside, damaging roads and causing huge inconvenience.
‘They will be even more furious that police officers have been called out to assist.’
As well as the journeys known to involve wind turbines, Police Scotland also records the movement of other wind farm equipment as ‘abnormal loads’ and ‘non-chargeable’ escorts.
Police Scotland said that because escorting abnormal loads is not a core part of its duties, it relies on ‘specially trained officers undertaking these tasks on rest days’.
The force can recoup money for journeys that take more than an hour from the hauliers transporting the parts.
Campaign group No Ring of Steel Kyle of Sutherland (NORoS) is just one of several groups opposed to the proliferation of wind farms.
A spokesman said: ‘The subsequent diversions and closures caused by the transportation of these turbines often causes huge upheaval for people living nearby, impacting on children going to school, people trying to get to work, such as carers, and the tourism industry.’
The demands on the force come at a time when officers are ordered not to launch full inquiries into offences deemed to be ‘minor’ where there is no lead, such as CCTV footage.
Between August 2023 and February of this year more than 12,000 crimes reported by the public were ‘directly filed’ - meaning they were not taken forward for full investigation.
The force has said pressures on its staff was one of the reasons proportionate response was introduced.
Police Scotland has also stated it needs a minimum £104.9m uplift in its funding to maintain the current number of staff after accounting for factors such as pay awards and increased national insurance contributions.
Last year, Scotland’s police regulator recommended that the force work with the Scottish Government to explore how the escorting of abnormal loads could be carried out by a third-party agency instead of the police.
Morag Watson, Director of Onshore at Scottish Renewables, said that in order for this to happen, ‘changes in legislation will be needed at Westminster and possibly at Holyrood’.
She said: ‘Scottish Renewables, Police Scotland, Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government are working together to scope how an external agency carrying out abnormal load escorts would work, what legislative changes would be needed and how these changes can be made.’
Ms Watson also defended the transportation of parts, stating: ‘Being able to move large components as abnormal loads is essential for onshore wind projects. Without this logistics capacity it would be impossible to install the turbines we need to deliver a secure and reliable energy supply across the country.’
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