Dumfries police room staff to fight closure

Staff at Dumfries police control room have mounted a campaign to save it from closure.

Police control rooms across Scotlanand face cuts. Picture: Ian Georgeson

The centre is one of five Police Scotland facilities dealing with emergency calls which has been earmarked for closure.

Plans published last week show it will be shut down in April if the force’s proposals are approved.

Staff say they have been left “in a state of bewilderment and shock”, and warned the removal of call handlers in the area with local knowledge could cost lives.

The 34 staff have written a joint letter to the board members and chair of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), who will meet on Thursday to consider the closures.

The SPA has the authority to decide whether the proposals can be progressed.

The staff want a full public consultation to take place before any decision is made.

They have also launched a campaign on social media, and will meet politicians and trade unions in the coming days.

In their letter to the SPA, they wrote that they had been given repeated assurances that no changes to control rooms would take place until after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.

The letter says: “I am sure that you will be aware that there is considerable anger and resentment at this proposal from Police Scotland.

“We are aware that members of Dumfries and Galloway Council met with DCC Fitzpatrick on January 22 and specifically raised their concerns over the police control room in Dumfries.

“Three times she allegedly assured them that there would be full consultation with the council before any proposals were put forward. That simply did not happen. The council have been misled and so have police staff.”

The letter described the prospect of closure as “very grim for all of the 34 civilian staff and their families”.

It continues: “But this itself is nothing compared to the potential consequences for local policing in Dumfries and Galloway.

“As a result of this decision, public confidence in Police Scotland within this area is rapidly diminishing.

“People cannot quite believe that Police Scotland, having already taken away their ability to call at a police station front desk in some areas, now intend to remove their ability to speak to an operator with first-hand knowledge of their area in an emergency or indeed non-emergency situation. Lack of local knowledge could cost someone their life.”

The letter also challenges plans to use technology to pinpoint the location of callers.

It says: “Technology can and does fail. You will not find local place names on mapping systems.

“Local dialects can mean callers are difficult to understand, especially if the call-handler is in a completely different part of the country.”

The staff also say that it is not practical for them to be redeployed to other facilities, as they would have to travel to the central belt every day, or face moving away.