Strathclyde Police

Strathclyde Police
Motto	Semper Vigilo
Agency overview
Formed	1975 (merger)
Dissolved	April 1 2013
Superseding agency	Police Scotland
Annual budget	£638.96 Million (2009-2010)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Argyll and Bute, City of Glasgow, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, UK
Map of Strathclyde Police's jurisdiction
Size	13,624 km²
Population	Approx 2.3 million
Operational structure
Headquarters	173 Pitt Street, Glasgow
Sworn members	8,089 & 2,800 Police Staff
Agency executive	Campbell Corrigan, Chief Constable (Acting)
Divisions	8
Facilities
Stations	115
Helicopters	1
Website
www.strathclyde.police.uk

Strathclyde Police is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, City of Glasgow, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. The Police Authority contains members from each of these authorities. Until 1996 the police area was also the local government region of Strathclyde.

It is the largest of the eight Scottish police forces. It is the second largest in terms of area in Scotland, after the area covered by the Scottish Northern Constabulary.

An Act of the Scottish Parliament, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, will create a single Police Service of Scotland - to be known as Police Scotland - with effect from 1 April 2013. This will merge the eight regional police forces in Scotland (including Strathclyde Police), together with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, into a single service covering the whole of Scotland. Police Scotland will have its headquarters at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan in Fife.

Personnel

The force's Senior Management Team (as of December 2012) are as follows:

Temporary Chief Constable

Campbell Corrigan

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable

Ruaraidh Nicolson

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable (Crime)

Russell Dunn

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable (Territorial Policing)

Bernard Higgins

Director of Legal Services

Ian McPherson LLB NP

Director of Finance and Resources

Allan Macleod BA (Hons), MBA, CPFA

Director of Corporate Communications

Rob Shorthouse

Director of Human Resources

John Gillies

Currently over 11,100 personnel work for Strathclyde Police. They are the following (as of June 2011):

Police Staff

2474

Police Officers

8110

Special Constables

601

History

The force was created as a consequence of major restructuring of police in Scotland and the creation of new regional councils. Thus, Strathclyde Police boundaries matched that of Strathclyde Regional Council boundaries. Strathclyde Police was created on 16 May 1975 from the merger of several police services:

• City of Glasgow Police
• Lanarkshire Constabulary
• Renfrew & Bute Constabulary
• Dunbartonshire Constabulary
• Argyll County Police
• Ayrshire Constabulary
• small portion of Stirling and Clackmannan Police

Organisation

Strathclyde Police Headquarters at Pitt Street in Central Glasgow

Since 23 October 2007 the Force has been organised into 8 Territorial Divisions (designated A,B,G,K,L,N,Q & U Divisions), a Headquarters Division (H), a Support Services Division (V) and a Road Policing Division (T).

The Force is commanded by a Chief Constable, supported by a Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) and 3 Assistant Chief Constables (ACC).

The Territorial Divisions are commanded by an officer of Chief Superintendent rank supported by 2 Superintendents who hold various portfolios. These Divisions are further sub divided into a number of Sub Divisions, which may be further split into areas commanded by an Area Commander (A.C.) of Chief Inspector rank. There are 33 Area Commands within the Force.

Strathclyde police employ over 8,000 police officers and approximately 2,400 police staff. Individually designated as members of police staff (MOPS) Their jobs range from drivers to computer technicians and everything in-between, such as vehicle technicians, communications operators, word processor operators, police custody and security officers (PCSO) and specialised posts in Information Technology and Forensic Science although the specialised posts will be shortly transferring to the Scottish Police Services Authority.

The force features in the TV detective series Taggart.

In December 2009, the force announced it was halving the size of its dog unit.

In 2005, Strathclyde Police established its groundbreaking Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). The unit was set up to bring together communities and agencies to tackle the root causes of violence. The work of the VRU has now been extended throughout the whole of Scotland.

Divisions

Strathclyde Police is organized into eight divisions, all with their own subdivisions. Each subdivision also covers the surrounding villages and rural areas around it. They are organised like so:

• Argyll, Bute and West Dunbartonshire
  • Argyll and Bute
  • Clydebank, Dumbarton and Helensburgh
• Ayrshire
  • East Ayrshire
  • North Ayrshire
  • South Ayrshire
• Glasgow Central and West
  • Glasgow Central
  • Glasgow West
• Glasgow North East and East Dunbartonshire
  • Baird Street
  • London Road
  • Maryhill and Saracen
  • Shettleston, Easterhouse and Baillieston
• Glasgow South and East Renfrewshire
  • Cathcart
  • East Renfrewshire
  • Govan
  • New Gorbals
  • Pollok
• North Lanarkshire
  • Bellshill
  • Cumbernauld and Kilsyth
  • Monklands
  • Motherwell and Wishaw
• Renfrewshire and Inverclyde
  • Inverclyde
  • Johnstone and Renfrew
  • Paisley
• South Lanarkshire
  • Clydesdale
  • East Kilbride and Strathaven
  • Hamilton
  • Rutherglen and Cambuslang

Uniform

Police officers in Glasgow Green, Glasgow.

From the formation of Strathclyde Police in 1975 to 1994 the uniform was similar to the uniform previously used by the antecedent City of Glasgow Police. This changed to a shirt, tie and woollen pullover for a few years until the present all-black uniform with no tie was introduced in 2003.

The current all-black uniform is composed of black short sleeved Under Armour-style 'wicking' T-shirts with 'POLICE' insignia in white (older shirts have Strathclyde Police on them) displayed on both sleeves and epaulette straps on each shoulder for the affixing of Divisional identifier number and insignia of rank. Trousers were of a USA army style cargo pocket style i.e. two thigh pockets and two conventional side and rear pockets however as of 2008, all trousers come without cargo pockets due to the introduction of new body armours being issued with pockets.

Worn over the wicking top on all operational duties is a Stab vest which until 2008 was supplied by Highmark Ltd, Body armour is now supplied by Hawk Protection and has blue and white reflective chequered bands across the front and back of the vest and also features Klick Fast docks. The insignia of Strathclyde Police is sewn on the left breast of this garment and a blue and silver relfective 'POLICE' patch is sewn onto the back of the garment, although some vests feature a black patch with white embroidered letters on the back instead. This style of body armour has now been adopted by all 8 Scottish police forces, with slight insignia variations. Service medal ribbons such as the Police Long Service and Good Conduct medal and/or the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal can be worn on the left breast of this cover and gallantry ribbons like the Queen's Police Medal on the right breast.

A black fleece with the Strathclyde Police logo was worn over body armour prior to November 2009. Now a Black Microfibre fleece with "POLICE" insignia on the sleeves is now worn under the Body Armour.

Strathclyde Police introduced a trial uniform in February 2002. This consisted of a light blue shirt that can be worn with or without a tie with body armour worn on top. The body armour at the time had the old style Strathclyde Police logo that was originally used on the NATO jumpers. Cargo trousers and fleeces were introduced at this time.

Officers are often seen wearing a high visibility 'bomber style' jacket with blue and silver chequered bands around the arms and waist.These jackets also feature reflective 'police' badges with a larger one on the back and a smaller one to the left breast pocket. It is zip and stud fastening, with Klick Fast attachments. Black waterproof trousers also issued as well as black leather gloves (Constables and Sergeants) or brown leather gloves (Inspectors and above).

All officers wear a uniform cap, a peaked cap for males, or a round reinforced bowler style for females. Both types of hat feature the famous Sillitoe Tartan design and the standard Scottish Police cap badge in metal for the ranks of Constable or Sergeant or embroidered for Inspectors and above. The Road Policing Unit also have a white cover over the top of the cap. No prescribed footwear is issued to the Force's officers except for those in a few specialist roles such as Public Order officers and those within "V" Support Services.

Equipment

Strathclyde Police support unit

Personal equipment consists of a Police duty belt holding an officer's personal issue protective equipment; Hiatts Speedcuffs or TCH-840 Rigid Handcuffs, 21" Autolock baton with a Hindi cap and CS Spray.

Officers may decide to carry some other equipment on the belts as well, such as; a small first aid kit, torch, leg restraints, keys, utility pouch etc.

Motorola MTH800 radios are issued to officers when on duty.

Support Unit officers are supplied with the longer 26" Autolock batons.

The force's Panda car fleet consists primarily of Ford Focus vehicles, with BMW 5 Series 530d, Ford Focus ST being used by the Road Policing Unit. On occasion however the Road Policing Department will trial various other vehicles from manufacturers including Volvo and Mitsubishi. The Crash Investigation Unit operate a marked Mitsubishi Outlander van. Divisional Police vans are predominantly of the ford connect type. All marked vehicles feature high visibility Battenburg markings.

Strathclyde Police also currently use for their unmarked fleet, Hyundai i30's, Ford Focus's

The Strathclyde Police Air Support Unit has Scotland's only police helicopter and consists of a Eurocopter EC 135T2+ (G-SPAO) based at the Glasgow City Heliport. This helicopter is painted in PSDB highly conspicuous colours of dark blue with a yellow top. The aircraft is supplied on a contract basis by Bond Air Services.

Headquarters

The Strathclyde Police Headquarters is located at Pitt Street in Blythswood Hill, Glasgow. The building was originally erected in 1934 as Glasgow and West of Scotland Commercial College, later the Scottish College of Commerce. In 1964 the Scottish College of Commerce combined with the Royal College of Science and Technology to form the University of Strathclyde. There are plans to relocate the HQ to South Dalmarnock on the outskirts of Glasgow. This has prompted that the Pitt Street HQ building be put on the market.

Crime Priorities

Strathclyde Police decide on very high priorities to concentrate their resources on to proactively protect people on the street which is in addition to responding to calls and reports of crime from the public. There are five very high priorities which Strathclyde Police have been concentrating on between 2009 and 2010.

Violence, Disorder and Antisocial Behaviour

The main contributing factor to violence and antisocial behaviour is alcohol which when it is overly consumed, can make people aggressive and aggitated with the potential of committing serious crimes. Domestic abuse also comes under the heading of "Violence, Disorder and Antisocial Behaviour". This type of crime takes place behind closed doors and requires a different policing style which is mainly delivered by the Domestic Abuse Task Force with specialised methods for disrupting known abusers and protecting those at risk. Between 2009 and 2010, murder reduced by 26%, attempted murder reduced by 15% and 45,000 fixed penalty notices for disorder were issued.

Serious and Organised Crime

Serious Organised Crime exploits members of the public, harms legitimate businesses, increases the cost to the taxpayer and inflicting misery on victims and families. In 2009 the Tasking and Interventions Unit was set up to tackle serious organised crime groups by tacking a dynamic approach to disrupting their activities. During the period this unit was set up 134 members of serious organised crime groups were arrested, 82 firearms were recovered and ₤294,955 was seized from organised crime groups.

Drugs

The controlling of drugs in Strathclyde is linked to that of policing organised crime groups as most groups have major links with the cultivation, trafficking and selling of classified drugs. Drugs have a harmful effect on the ethos of the community, feeds vulnerable people's addiction to drugs and funds organised crime and terrorism. Over the 2009-2010 period, 15,000 drug seizures of Class A and B drugs took place and 2,500 kg worth of drugs including amphetimines, cocaine and heroin was seized and destroyed.

Terrorism

The UK as a whole remains at a heightened state of alert with regards to terrorism following continuing threats from terrorist groups Al-Qaida, dissident IRA groups and domestic extremist groups. Strathclyde Police dealt with a terrorist incident in 2007 at Glasgow Airport which resulted in five members of the public being injured and the perpetrator himself dying later at hospital. Strathclyde Police continues to police terrorism using the UK wide CONTEST strategy which prevents, pursues, protects and prepares for terrorism.

Child Protection

To ensure children in Strathclyde are protected from sexual/non-sexual abuse and neglect, the force employs a range of techniques. This includes the management of offenders in the community to ensure children are not put at risk from sex offenders under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to monitor and restrict behaviour. Internet safety is also of importance to educate children on how to enjoy the internet safely which is delivered through the 'Surf Safe' section on Strathclyde Police website with reinforcement by talks in schools.

All information provided by the Chief Constable's Annual Report 2009-2010

External links

• Official website