Inverness police control room to close despite concerns
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INVERNESS still faces losing its dedicated police control room despite city political leaders saying they felt reassured by face-to-face talks with officers.
Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson had called for a full review of Police Scotland's decision to close the Inverness control room,
She said that a critical report by HM Inspector of Constabulary (HMICS) Derek Penman into the workings of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) raised "serious concerns" about their decision-making processes and effectiveness to properly scrutinise Police Scotland.
She and other senior council figures held 90 minutes of talks with Assistant Chief Constables Andy Cowie and John Hawkins as well as Chief Superintendent George MacDonald, the divisional commander for the Highlands and Islands, along with Mr Penman.
Afterwards she said the meeting had involved a "frank" exchange of views as the council made clear its preference to see the control room remain in the city, rather than relocated to Dundee.
Admitting, nevertheless, that it looked like the closure was going to happen anyway, Cllr Davidson said: "We did have some reassurance around the process Police Scotland are going through to get to the point where they feel the system is robust enough for them to close this centre, and that this is not just about saving money.
"I think people can sleep easier knowing the movement of the control room is much better ordered and organised than it was two years ago when it was first talked about."
There have been concerns about the loss of local knowledge a centralisation process could lead to, particularly after the incident in 2015 when reports of a car seen crashed off the M9 near Stirling were not investigated by police for three days. A man was found dead in the wreckage and a critically injured woman died later in hospital.
Chief Supt MacDonald said human error was always a risk but that he was confident centralisation of control room functions would not impact on the reliability of the service.
Having been involved in the closure of the Aberdeen control room previously he said: "My experience from that has been that service level has been maintained, and in certain areas enhanced, and I will be looking for the same level of delivery in the Highlands."
He said there was a lot of work going on to make sure centralised staff were familiar with local geography and terminology and that there would be no signing off on closure of the Inverness control room until police were confident their own standards had been met.
Cllr Davidson had also raised concerns about an apparent change of plan for the siting of a new National Database Enquiry Unit (NDEU) in the Highland capital that would have brought increased staffing levels with it.
Saying the council were told in 2014 that this unit would be based solely in Inverness, she said more recent references to the plan discussed splitting the function with Govan in Glasgow, impacting on the potential number of jobs for the north.
"It does look like that will be the plan put to the police board in August, but I'm clear again that our views have been made clear on the issue and again we are looking for clarity around processes and numbers involved," she said.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant, who has also been campaigning to prevent the closure of the Inverness control room, also met ACC Hawkins.
She said: "ACC Hawkins did advise that there would indeed be a dual functioning NDEU based in Govan and admitted that he was unaware that reassurances had been given that the sole NDEU would be based in Inverness.
"However he undertook to take this information on board as the force made final deliberations."
She added: "I was at pains to point out to ACC Hawkins that there was no valid reason, as far as I could see, as to why the North Area Control Room was not based in Inverness.
"That said, I accepted that the decision has now been made to close this control room and to that end I will do all I can to make sure that there are no job losses."
