But the alarming and unusual scenes unfolded against a backdrop of falling crime in East Renfrewshire.

The latest statistics were presented to elected members at a meeting in the local authority’s Eastwood headquarters one week after pupils were evacuated from their classrooms amid unprecedented scenes.

But despite dozens of officers being mobilised to deal with the one-off drama, the last year has seen crime in the county fall to a two-year low.

For example, Police Scotland’s quarterly performance report noted a 75 per cent drop in serious assaults.

The document also revealed that it has cut disorder complaints by more than a quarter in the last two years.

The report was presented to councillors by East Renfrewshire’s area commander Chief Inspector Angela Carty and Chief Superintendent Andy Bates, divisional commander of Greater Glasgow division, which incorporates East Renfrewshire.

The latest findings also revealed that as well as the number of serious assaults falling, every example had resulted in a positive outcome with a suspect arrested and charged on each occasion.

Inspector Carty said: “Our successful working partnership with East Renfrewshire Council moves forward with notable success in reducing anti-social behaviour.

“The number of complaints of disorder reduced last year by 15.8 per and we are building on this and have reduced complaints of disorder by a further 7.6 per cent this year so far.

“Our relationship has been extended to meeting with Community Wardens each Friday as we move towards the weekend where traditionally anti-social behaviour and disorder increases.

“In terms of violence there has been a 75 per cent decrease in serious assaults with six less victims and common assaults have decreased by 2.1 per cent with 2 less victims.

“This is against a backdrop of a 73 per cent reduction on the five year average in serious assaults and a 15.5 per cent reduction in common assaults.” As well as maintaining a 100 per cent arrest or “detection” rate for serious crime in the area, police also confirmed that last year’s results were almost as good, with 91 per cent of incidents resulting in a suspect appearing in the dock at court.

However, Inspector Carty did express her disappointment that the number of robberies, which includes housebreaking and theft from property, is on the rise.

She said: “Disappointingly the numbers of robberies have increased on the same period last year and looking forward to the next report this number continues to rise.” But she maintains that the headline figure for the area is the mass reduction in violent crime, which she says makes East Renfrewshire and Barrhead a safer place to live.

Inspector Carty added: “We are committed to tackling violent crime and through examination of crime and incident pattern analysis we deploy our officers to the most vulnerable areas.

“In addition we target known violent offenders in identified areas.

She added that the overall picture of violent crime is a positive one, showing a reduction on last year of 14.3 per cent.

Councillors welcomed the efforts being made by Police Scotland and commended officers on another positive report for the area, while seeking assurances that all efforts were being made to tackle thefts and housebreakings.