Dumfriesshire MSP to meet with HMICS

Dr Murray, Shadow Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs will meet with Derek Penman  who will carry out the inquiry by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) into Police Scotland call handling.

Dr Murray, who will meet him today, said that a failure by the inquiry to assess the impact of decisions to close call centres and cut services means it risks being dismissed as a whitewash.

Since the creation of the single police force by the Scottish Government a number of call centres have been cut, including the Dumfries Police Control Room resulting in the loss of 34 experienced local staff.

Last week Scottish Labour formally lodged a motion in Parliament calling for Sir Stephen House, the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, to take responsibility for a long list of failings and resign with immediate effect.

Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray said: “Since the single police force was established by the Scottish Government there have been major cuts to local services across Scotland, including here in Dumfries & Galloway. Police call centres all across Scotland have been closed down and work transferred elsewhere. The loss of local knowledge and expertise may never be recovered.

“The HMICS inquiry must look very closely at how decisions to close local call centres like the Dumfries Police Control Room were made by Police Scotland, and whether centralised services were funded properly.

“An inquiry that fails to properly look at the effects of these decisions risks being dismissed as a whitewash.”

She added: “The creation of the single police force by the Scottish Government was one of the biggest changes to public services in Scotland for decades, but something has gone badly wrong with its implementation. For the sake of restoring public confidence in Police Scotland the HMICS inquiry must leave no stone unturned in uncovering the truth.”