Inverness commander Chief Inspector Judy Hill says a holistic approach is key to policing in the city
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With a resident population of around 47,000 people and millions of visitors passing through each year, policing Inverness is no small job.
And that responsibility ultimately falls to Chief Inspector Judy Hill, who took over as area commander for the Highland capital last year.
She is one of six area commanders tasked with keeping the streets of the Highlands and Islands safe.
She sat down with the Inverness Courier for an exclusive interview examining policing in the city and the challenges her officers face.
Ch Insp Hill, who is originally from Golspie, is no stranger to the area.
She started her career with the police in Orkney before coming to Burnett Road as a sergeant.
More recently she was in a divisional role covering the Highlands and Islands in a partnership, prevention and wellbeing role before taking the area commander posting.
She explained that the top policing priorities for the local area are: road safety and road crime, antisocial behaviour, violence and disorder, acquisitive crime, protecting vulnerable people, and serious and organised crime and terrorism.
Speaking about crime trends, she said: “At different times of the year we will have different things.
“So at this time of the year we see an increase of visitors to the area and all that comes with that.
“And we are seeing a sort of return to pre-Covid times with the nightlife picking up again now.”
Keeping the streets safe is one of the key roles of her officers.
Violent assaults can break out due to alcohol and drug consumption not just at weekends but almost any time, she said.
Similarly with shops reopened following the pandemic and swathes of tourists exploring the city centre, it is important that there is a police presence visible in the city centre.
Ch Insp Hill said: “We’ve got a city centre policing team in Inverness. They are based in the Town House.
“So they’ll be very much focusing on issues round about the city centre with licensed premises, with the shopping premises looking at shoplifters and tackling issues there.”
However, it is not all about responding to incidents with “blues and twos”.
Modern policing works closely with partner agencies in order to prevent crime, help those who are victims and to try and stop people becoming repeat offenders.
Ch Insp Hill said: “I’ve got 18 years’ service and policing has changed a lot in that time. We are very much now taking a much more holistic approach in the way we do things.
“We think a lot more about vulnerability, about working alongside our partners.
“Over the years I think we’ve probably learned a lot more about what causes people to offend or what causes people to be in crisis.
“We do a lot of work in the background now – it’s not just about preventing people coming back to our attention but it is also about improving outcomes for their lives as well.”
• More from our exclusive interview in The Inverness Courier next week.
