Dundee and Edinburgh police labs face closure

Four options are being considered by the SPSA as they bid to reduce their budget in the wake of looming public sector cuts.

The police body, which took responsibility for forensics in 2007, is considering centralising its lab work at Glasgow and Dundee in a move that could save around 3.5 million.

The Aberdeen lab had been reprieved last year after previous proposals to close it were ditched amid cross-party political protest.

Another proposal being considered by SPSA officials would see all the labs being retained, with annual savings of 1.75 million being pushed for by 2015.

A further option would again see all the facilities being kept but the annual savings sought being about 2 million by 2015.

Four smaller "satellite" labs could also 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 2.8 million, the SPSA said.

Up to 93 posts would be expected to go depending on which option is backed.

Launching the six-week consultation, SPSA director of forensic services Tom Nelson said: "We must iron out the inconsistency of approach in our practice and procedures.

"That simply cannot continue given the financial challenges we will all be facing over the next five years. Every pound counts.

"The options we have set out today are about consolidating and optimising what we do for policing, but they do herald change for us as an organisation. Change in practice. Change in procedure. Change, too,

in terms of people and places."

Mike Rumbles, Liberal Democrat MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, campaigned against the earlier plan to close the Aberdeen lab.

He said today: "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.

"This must be resisted, particularly in the case of the Aberdeen forensic lab. The most important thing is that forensic services to Grampian Police are maintained to the highest standard."