Call for greater transparency over Police Scotland control room errors

The Leader of The Highland Council Cllr Margaret Davidson has renewed her call to Police Scotland for greater transparency over Control Room errors.

Cllr Davidson said: “In the light of significant recent media coverage of concerns about Police Scotland’s call handling procedures and the more recent examples of errors emerging, we must ensure that there is full understanding and disclosure about how calls are handled. 

“We are seeking further discussions with HMICS and Police Scotland regarding appropriate monitoring measures and open and transparent reporting of problems and seeking reassurances about improvements to the national control rooms. The recent emergence of a significant number of mistakes serves to highlight the urgency of better and more open reporting.”

Councillor Mathew Reiss, The Highland Council’s Scrutiny Lead added: “The local Inverness Control Room is planned to close early in 2018 following a decision by the Scottish Police Authority in September, despite the Council’s long standing opposition.  The Council’s concerns relate to the loss of irreplaceable local knowledge and other factors including continued centralisation away from the North of Scotland. It is essential that Police Scotland allow the Local Authorities an opportunity to scrutinise the numbers and types of “notable incidents” as these errors are termed, both before and after the loss of our highly valued Highland Control Room. This is a matter which is fundamental to public confidence.”

14 Nov 2017