Highland MSP seeks control room assurances
A Highlands MSP is seeking reassurances over the planned closure of the local police control room.
Rhoda Grant, who has been at the forefront of campaigns to stop the closure of the PCR in Inverness, is to meet with Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins later this month.
She will ask for reassurances from him regarding the plans for a transfer of the facility and staff to a National Database Enquiry Unit (NDEU) based in the city.
Ms Grant said: "I have being doing whatever I can to persuade the Government and Police Scotland to stop the planned closure.
"The whole closure plan has been brought about by the Government’s demand for deep swingeing cuts to be made at all costs without much cognisance for the service to be provided.
"I have been advised repeatedly by senior officers from Police Scotland, including temporary Chief Superintendent Philip Macrae, the then Area Commander for the Highlands & Islands, that the Inverness Control Room would change to the National Database Enquiry Unit with no staff cuts or job losses.
"Indeed, I was advised there may have been job creation.
"I now learn that earlier this week the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, has said the new National Database Enquiry Unit would largely be based in Inverness and he added that Police Scotland was considering a partnership arrangement with a similar facility in Govan.
"This is the first I have heard of this and obviously I am concerned that this proposal may dilute the facility and job creation that was promised by Police Scotland in place of the Inverness Control Room.
"I will be seeking guarantees and reassurance from ACC Hawkins when I meet him, stressing that we were all promised no staff losses as Inverness would be the home of the NDEU once the Police Control Room closed."