Closure threat to forensic labs

FORENSIC crime laboratories in Aberdeen and Edinburgh are under threat of closure as part of a restructure announced yesterday.

The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) is considering four options, the most radical of which is closing the sites and sending all work to centres in Dundee and Glasgow.

The first two options involve keeping all four centres but pushing for savings of 1.75 million or 2m by 2015.

Option three is for four smaller "satellite" labs to be supported by high-volume units - one in Dundee, and one in Glasgow that would later move to the Gartcosh crime campus. This would save around 2.8m, the SPSA said. The fourth option, with Aberdeen and Edinburgh closed, would save about 3.5m.

The Aberdeen lab was reprieved last year after proposals to close it were ditched after cross-party political protest.

The SPSA took over responsibility for forensics in April 2007 and has about 570 staff. Up to 93 posts would be expected to go in the revamp, depending on which option is chosen.

SPSA officials said police forces and procurators-fiscal are "broadly satisfied" with the support they receive in complex crimes such as murders, but raised concern about "inconsistency and delay" in other areas.

Launching the six-week consultation, Tom Nelson, the SPSA director of forensic services, said: "The options we have set out are about consolidating and optimising what we do for policing."

Mike Rumbles, Liberal Democrat MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said: "It is clear that a number of publicly-funded organisations will seek to use the imminent budget cuts as a reason to centralise services to the Central Belt.

"The most important thing is that forensic services to Grampian Police are maintained to the highest standard."