Chf Supt Rob Shepherd: My Christmas wish is 'my officers don't have to attend anything that's life-changing'
“Most people's interactions with police only happen to them at the most traumatic period of their life” and that trauma can last a lifetime both for the public and for the officers themselves.
In an exclusive interview with the Inverness Courier, Chief Superintendent Rob Shepherd has reflected on the year that saw him appointed to the top cop job in the north and discussed a huge range of policing issues.
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Approaching the festive season can be daunting, it can be fun, but for bobbies on the beat it can be one of the most challenging times of year so we asked him what he most wants to see this festive season.
Chf Supt Shepherd: “So I guess I will aim small. I could say all sorts of crazy things about government funding and all that stuff but I am not – what I'm going do is I'm going to talk about Highlands and Islands from a policing perspective.
“Now, we've all had traumatic things happen in our lives and most people's interactions with police only happens to them at the most traumatic period of their life.
“Someone goes missing, someone has a mental health episode or someone dies or you’re the victim of a horrible crime and so your interaction with police, like a milestone in your life that you remember because of the horrible situation.
“I've got a letter on my desk here from someone who had an interaction with the police and wanted to thank us for our empathy but my officers had to attend a fatal road accident in Caithness, a child death in Nairn a couple of weeks before that.
“So I guess my Christmas wish would be that for the festive period I wish my officers don't have to attend anything that's life-changing for them or the people they come across.
“And that none of these lifelong-memory incidents happen and that the people of the Highlands and Islands get to enjoy the festive period with their loved ones and that my officers come through it unscathed, both physically and mentally.”
