[Police Scotland issue this newsletter as a pdf which is best viewed after downloading to your device. Click the link below to download it]

Introduction:

We are pleased to present the latest edition of our community newsletter, designed to keep you up to date about the activities and initiatives of our local police officers. This newsletter serves as your window into the ongoing work of officers in your area, featuring insights from the City Centre Policing Team and the Community Beats team.

Our goal is to provide you with a closer look at the dedicated efforts of our police officers to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your communities. We understand the importance of keeping our community members informed and appreciate your continued support as we work together to make our streets even safer and more welcoming.

Thank you for being engaged and informed members of our community. Together we can continue to create a better and safer place for all.

Community Beats Team

Your community beat team and their areas of responsibility:

Inspector David Mcalpine: Team leader of City Centre Policing Team (CCPT) and Community Beats (CB)

PC Keith Whitelaw: Community officer for; Merkinch and South Kessock.

PC Katie Johnstone: Community officer for; Dalneigh, Torvean, Bught, Scorguie & Kinmylies

PC Laura Kerr: Community officer for; Smithton, Culloden, Balloch, Ardersier & Croy

PC Cailean Macleod: Community officer for; Hilton, Holm, Lochardil, Culduthel and Inshes

Road Safety

Over the course of this period speeding has remained a constant issue in several areas. As such beat officers have endeavoured to perform radar checks in an effort to not only charge offenders but also to deter this from occurring.

As we approach springtime it can often be the case that the winter elements affect or roads and as such we remain committed to checking vehicles for road safety worthiness. In general terms this will involve checking tyres, lights etc and providing road safety information to drivers.

Anti-social behaviour & Disorder

The community beat team are keen to be informed of areas in the city that are affected by anti-social behaviour. In tacking this type of behaviour, we look to enhance our policing presence where officers will look to employ various tactics to hopefully reduce the poor behaviour. This can include engagement with the involved persons where a positive approach is made with the desire being that resolutions are found. Failing that a more robust approach can be taken whereby officers will look to gather evidence with the intention of gaining sufficient evidence to provide a crime report to the Procurator fiscal. A good example of this being the previous work undertaken at Inshes retail park where several persons were reported.

Protecting Vulnerable People

Part of the role of a Community Beats officer to proactively engage with members of our community that are considered as vulnerable people, and this area of work is undertaken on a daily basis with visits to retirement home, sheltered housing and individuals within residential areas. This work can very often go unnoticed however as community beats officers we consider this a vital piece of work and whilst this can be time consuming it can also be very rewarding.

Other matters

Over the last month we have had to say goodbye to PC Jo Barclay who has moved onto pastures new. Jo was a huge asset to the team and will be a great loss. In addition to this PC Laura Kerr has been offered a new post in the training dept and currently awaits a date to start this position. To this end and in preparation for her new post, PC Kerr has been away from her area undertaking training to best prepare her for her new role. PC Kerr has been within the beats team for a number of years and again with her experience will be a significant loss to the team. Unfortunately, this has meant further abstraction and availability for beat officers to be visible within the community. However, to allay any fears we will be advertising from officers to come into the beats team and hopefully they will be in place in time for the next newsletter.

Finally, as a community beat team, we are all very conscious that matters of concerns within your areas may go unreported and you may feel that you do not see an officer. I would actively encourage any issues reported to the community council to be forwarded onto the team using the details at the end of this newsletter. Indeed, it would be appreciated that following the distribution of this newsletter information can be fed back into the team where we will look to try and work towards a resolution or increased visibility.

From the team:

PC Keith Whitelaw: Community officer for; Merkinch and South Kessock.

Over the month of March, I have been involved in various aspects of policing both within and out with the Merkinch and South Kessock community, I have tried to break this down into sections.

  • Warrants and drugs offences: I have collaborated with proactive teams to enforce warrants related to drugs offences. This is something that residents are becoming increasingly vocal about. We want to hear more from residents about this sort of activity to help us understand the full extent of the problem and address it.
  • Community Patrols and Engagement: I Patrol the community on foot, bicycle and in patrol cars, engaging with residents and business owners. This is something that residents have expressed they would like to see more of the bobby on the beat. I’m trying hard to being in the area as much as possible but am struggling with other duties taking me away – for which I have no control.
  • Response Policing support: I have been abstracted from my role as the community beat officer significantly due to other operational demands. This is making performing my duty to a good standard very difficult. This is down to various factors, such as staffing in other areas.
  • Neighbour Disputes: I have become involved in various neighbour disputes. These situations are extremely difficult and frustrating for all involved and need to be handled very delicately by Police. Often, we do not have the powers people think we do in these situations and rely on our ability to calm the situation and offer advice where possible.
  • Speed checks and Safety Initiatives: I have carried out speed checks, particularly near schools to promote safer driving habits and help keep our children safe. I managed to involve some school kids at Merkinch Primary School in speed checks, we warned a few drivers about their speed and asked them to slow down before wishing them a nice day.
  • Crime prevention and collaboration: I have been involved in multi-agency meetings discussing areas of concerns in the community. I have started to markup bikes on the bike register following a request from community members. This is something I will do again soon. This serves as a good deterrent to bike theft.
  • Engagement with Partners: I have engaged with partners this month over several matters, of note is the design of a new leaflet for the community helping to signpost the public towards services. This is aimed at encouraging reporting of issues being faced in the area. It hasn’t been completed yet but will be issued in the near future.
  • Educational outreach: I have periodically visited schools for several different reasons. The engagement has been largely positive. This is a good opportunity for meaningful engagement with young people in the community, encouraging them to be their best selves and helping make Police more approachable to younger generations. We have taken part in career fares, again to inspire others considering Policing as a future career.

PC Katie Johnstone: Community officer for; Dalneigh, Torvean, Bught, Scorguie & Kinmylies

During the month of March I have attended various schools providing talks on varying subjects depending on age. I was able to visit Inshes Nursery and give some safety advice and allow the children to try on Police uniform. They were excited to see the Police vehicle with lights and sirens on. I also attend Drakies Primary, where I talked to the P7s about drugs, they all engaged well and had lots of questions. We had a station visit from the Brownies, who had a tour of the Police station, and got to meet some of the Police dogs, explore the custody block, and put the lights on in a Police van.

I continue to patrol my beat however due to being required to assist response Policing in Inverness and surrounding areas, the opportunity to do this is limited.

PC Laura Kerr: Community officer for; Smithton, Culloden, Balloch, Ardersier & Croy

Unfortunately, I have not been in the Smithton, Culloden, Balloch, Ardersier and Croy areas this month due to being away on training courses for a new post.

Although I have been away, I have been keeping up to date with incidents within these areas and have been made aware that there have been reports raised regarding speeding on Culloden Road and through the village of Ardersier to Fort George. My colleagues in Community Beats are also aware of these issues and will carry out speed checks as and when duties allow.

I was also made aware of damage caused to bus shelters outside Culloden Academy both during and out with the school day. The youths responsible have been identified and the incident is currently being dealt with.

I will also be away from the beat for a large part of April, however my colleagues in the Community Beat department will continue to cover the area in my absence as and when they can.

Raigmore, Drakies, Milton of Ley, Crown & Millburn

There is currently no community beat officer for this area. This vacancy is due to be filled in the coming weeks. Community beat officers from other areas will continue to try and cover this area in the meantime.

PC Cailean Macleod: Community officer for; Hilton, Holm, Lochardil, Culduthel and Inshes

I continue to work closely with other departments in the Force and the local community to enable those person/s involved in the supply of drugs to be dealt with robustly. Any information from the community is treated as strictly confidential and this information enables the Police to ensure the blight of drug dealing can be continued to be tackled. Signposting those involved in drug misuse to enable them to tackle their addiction is also a focus for myself as reducing demand will ultimately be part of the solution.

I have carried out regular foot patrols throughout areas suffering from anti-social behaviour and other forms of criminality. Foot patrols enable me to reassure and speak with members of the community as well as providing a visible uniformed deterrent to those involved in anti-social antics and criminal behaviour. Residents, businesses and the community appreciate and value seeing a uniformed Police officer walking the beat. Its old fashion however it works; people speak to the Police, people are reassured that the Police are actually patrolling an area rather than driving through it and it builds rapport which leads to all manner of information regarding crimes being passed on to the Police.

Speeding vehicles is a road safety issue which is regularly raised as a concern by the community, so have carried out checks across various beats including Culduthel Road, Balnakyle Road, Stratherrick Road, Clava Road and Old Edinburgh Road in response to community concerns and targeting speeding outside schools. Educating drivers along with deterrence by being visible in the community is as important as issuing speeding tickets.

I have been abstracted away from my beat officer duties on several occasions to provide backfill on response shifts in Inverness, Aviemore and Dingwall and in other departments due to ongoing staffing issues. I have no control over the level of abstractions which is unfortunately impacting on the time I am spending out in my beats working with the community.

I have carried out regular liaison with housing officers, council officials, organisations and internally with other departments in Force. My linking in with other partners and departments in enables me to help them and help me which in turn makes for genuinely more joined up delivery of services to help the community. Knowing the right person in the right organisation means I can resolve problems very quickly.

I have carried out multiple checks of shops and pubs throughout my beats to ensure they are complying with the laws around selling of alcohol and to ensure the premises are being well run to avoid unruly or disorderly behaviour. Furthermore, by regularly speaking with shop staff and bar staff this reassures them that the Police are there to support them to deter and deal with any crimes which occur – shoplifting, abusive behaviour towards staff and other disorder crimes.

City Centre (CCPT)

The City Centre Police Team continue to be committed to addressing incidents of dishonesty and disorder within the City Centre. We continue to work alongside our colleagues from Burnett Road Police Station and our partner agencies within the City Centre.

The team are continuing their work engaging with youths who are causing disorder, which is having a positive effect and will continue. There continues to be issues, but we will continue our work with them, assisted by our colleagues from CCTV and Action for Children. We will also continue our engagement with businesses affected by the youth disorder and continue our patrols of affected area’s.

The nation-wide issue of Theft by Shoplifting continues to affect our City Centre on a daily basis. The team continue their commitment to apprehend persons carrying this out and over the last month have had several instances of the recovery of property and the apprehension of suspects. To have further success with this matter the team continues to utilise the assistance of our retail partner agencies and our CCTV operators.

Officers working within the City Centre during the evenings have also dealt with several incidents of violence within Licensed premises. This is an ongoing issue which is obviously fuelled by alcohol but with the assistance of CCTV and our colleague’s carrying out door steward duties we have had several positive results regarding this.

The City Centre team has also continued our positive engagement with the supporters of Palestine, who continue to hold vigils on a Saturday afternoon outside the Town House. The group are very supportive of a Police presence and continue to air their support in a peaceful and respectful manner.

Contact us

Police Scotland can be contacted via a variety of ways. In an emergency and/or when a crime is ongoing, please dial 999 otherwise please use the 101 phone number to report any other crimes or matters.

For non-urgent routines matters or to highlight issues or make contact with specific officers then the following email addresses can be used:

Inverness rural beats – Beauly / Cannich / Drumnadrochit / Fort Augustus / Foyers:

HighlandsandIslandsBeaulyFortAugustus@scotland.police.uk

For concerns and issues in the city of Inverness area and the rural beats of Ardersier, Daviot, Tomatin and Strathdearn:

HighlandsandIslandsCommunityBeatsInverness@scotland.police.uk

Please be aware that this e-mail address is not monitored 24/7 and is a contact email. Specific crimes should not be reported by these email addresses. Crimes should be reported via the telephone systems 999 or 101.

Any matters raised at community council meetings or specific community concerns should be emailed in and include the following details to enable your enquiry to deal with efficiently:

  • Contact name
  • Contact phone number
  • Details of the issue – times/places/people/history of the issue

Policing Survey

https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/research-and-insights/your-police

Statistics

Crime statistics for your community council area can be found using the following link –

https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/crime-data