Controversial changes to police control rooms will not lead to the closure of a facility in Inverness, the north’s top police officer has insisted.
Chief Superintendent Julian Innes said the proposals for the Highland capital were different to the closure plans put forward for Aberdeen.
A reorganisation of the call-handling centres in Inverness and Aberdeen was put on hold after the M9 tragedy, where John Yuill and Lamara Bell were left stranded in their wrecked car – despite the crash being reported to the police three days earlier.
Mr Innes, the divisional commander, claimed that many people had the wrong impression about what the shake-up would entail for Inverness-based staff.
“Inverness control room is not closing, its function will be different,” he said.
“Going back three years we campaigned quite strongly in the Highlands and islands for the retention of jobs in the Highlands and islands, for the impact on the local economy.
“Now there’s a command base, so there will be a base for criminal history checks and the police national database will be run from Inverness for the whole of Scotland – I think that’s excellent.
“If anybody wants to leave the organisation, and that’s for any role, there’s still a voluntary redundancy scheme, but that will be their choice. Every other person that’s employed here now will be remaining in employment in Police Scotland if they choose to do so. That’s great.
“That’s not the same picture as in other parts of the country, for instance Aberdeen.”
Mr Innes said he had confidence that in the wake of the M9 tragedy that none of the changes would be implemented if they adversely affected the call-handling service.
“I’m not content yet, because there’s still a number of things being worked through,” he said.
“What I’m content with is that HMICS (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland) has done a report on this, made 30 recommendations, and it’s clear that unless there’s reassurance provided that everything is in place to make sure the service is maintained, no changes will take place.
“Ultimately it will be the Scottish Police Authority that will need to be reassured that the change being put in place will not impact on the service. Until that point comes, there’s not full reassurance for everybody.”