Plans to close up to five police stations in Aberdeen will not reduce the quality of policing in the city, the north-east’s most senior officer has insisted.
Cash-strapped Police Scotland announced on Thursday that almost 30 offices across the country could shut after a public consultation finishes at the end of next month.
In the Granite City, that could mean the police station on Victoria Road, Torry, could shut with officers moving less than two miles away into the Nigg office on Abbotswell Crescent.
Other closures may include the police stations on Whinhill Road in Ferryhill, Greenfern Place in Mastrick, Seaton Place East in Seaton, and Belgrave Terrace in Rosemount.
Police personnel from those four offices, if shut down, would be relocated to “a larger centrally located office which is still to be determined,” Chief Superintendent Graeme Mackie said.
“Our ambition is to co-locate with partners or within buildings we already operate from.”
But the divisional commander assured the public that response times to 999 calls wouldn’t be affected, adding the measures would lead to an “enhanced service” to the city’s residents.
‘Policing can be done with fewer buildings’ – Ch Supt Graeme Mackie says
In an exclusive interview with The P&J, he explained that “modern-day policing can be done with fewer buildings” and insisted that the quality of a police force’s service “isn’t defined by the number of offices”.
He added: “We’re not losing officers. This is just about moving them to different locations so they can be deployed more effectively – more officers in fewer police stations.
“Aberdeen is a big city but, logistically, finding your way around in an emergency vehicle involves short distances and short amounts of time.
“For example, between the Torry police office and the Nigg police station, it’s approximately 1.7 miles from door to door.
“I believe that we can provide a more effective modern-day policing model from fewer police offices.”
The latest proposals to shake up the police estate could also affect the Muir of Ord office in the Highlands and Islands Division.
In total, Police Scotland has published details of 29 police stations and other buildings that are now considered surplus to requirements, with officers and staff potentially to be moved elsewhere.
Three properties are already vacant and 14 other sites currently have no public access.
The national police service also plans to consult the public on a further 16 buildings, which are either vacant or empty.
And plans to close a further 14 properties will be brought forward at a later date.
Some Aberdeen police stations earmarked for closure have already had resources downgraded
In Aberdeen, two of the police stations facing closure have already undergone a significant downgrade in resources, with no reported issues ever since the changes.
“Currently, there are no officers based full-time at Rosemount and Seaton,” the Ch Supt explained. “Those officers have been redeployed over a number of years elsewhere and those stations are currently used as a stopping point.”
“When I look at the Rosemount and Seaton police offices, we haven’t noticed any degradation in service being fed back to us.
“That’s because the next police station is so close. So for Seaton, we relocated officers to the Tillydrone office, which is a very short distance of 1.3 miles away.”
Aberdeen police stations could close because ‘fewer people are knocking on the doors’
Chief Superintendent Mackie said he felt confident that Police Scotland’s latest drive to save money by cutting back its spending on properties wouldn’t adversely impact the north-east.
“We’re finding fewer and fewer people are engaging with police officers by knocking on the doors,” he said.
“They’re engaging by online methods, phoning the police, and less and less by coming to police offices.
“Our police officers are using digital devices, so there’s no need for them to be returning to an office as frequently as they once did to do handwritten reports or ones typed up on desktop computers.
“Police officers are managing to do their work electronically so police offices have become less and less important.”
The senior officer also said that he expected to be able to “maintain the level of policing that we have across Aberdeen in particular”.
READ MORE: Is your local police station affected by the proposed closures?
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