Community-based policing

Community-based policing should be at the heart of any future changes to Scotland's police forces. That was a message I took from my meeting this week with Ayrshire's police commander Bill Fitzpatrick this week ahead of a key Strathclyde Police Authority meeting in the county.

Chief Superintendent Bill Fitzpatrick met me in my role as Police Authority Convener at Kilmarnock Police Office, the Ayrshire divisional headquarters. We discussed the importance of community policing across Ayrshire in a time of budget pressures and potential changes to the number of police forces across Scotland.

Strathclyde Police Authority oversees the £450 million police budget and ensures the force is accountable for policing provided across the west of Scotland. We have an important meeting in Ayr this week that will consider how best to address the looming budget cuts we expect for Strathclyde Police.

It was important to meet up with Chief Superintendent Fitzpatrick to discuss some of the important work police have been doing across Ayrshire before we make some of those decisions.

Community policing has been a key focus for police in this part of Strathclyde which is a mix of towns and rural areas with challenging issues facing the police. This is important as we also consider the future structure of policing across Scotland and potentially reducing the number of forces from eight to three or even one single Scottish force.

This isn't new as people here moved from having an Ayrshire Constabulary in 1975 to merger as part of a larger Strathclyde force. For any change we need to make sure that local autonomy is there for the commander and his officers to respond to calls and incidents where they are needed most, but we also need to ensure that policing remains accountable locally to communities and councils in Ayrshire who fund the service.

We also know there have been real problems in finding room for custody in Ayrshire, which has meant police time wasted taking people who are arrested to cells sometimes more than thirty minutes' drive away often outwith Ayrshire.

The Police Authority has already allocated resources to open new cells in Saltcoats. Having been in Kilmarnock this week, I know that police office also has a pressing need for more custody space which we need to address urgently.

A meeting of the full Authority will take place on Thursday 26 August from 10.30am at South Ayrshire Council headquarters in Ayr. The Authority is formed by 34 locally elected councillors representing the 12 councils that form Strathclyde including North, East and South Ayrshire.

How we are looking at ways to improve

Last September, Strathclyde Police Authority appointed Keith Mannings as the organisation's new chief executive. It has been a particularly busy and challenging period since his arrival.

The considerable financial deficit facing the policing budget has compelled the authority, as all other public sector organisations are doing, to look critically at how effective and efficient we are at conducting our business.

One of the chief executive's key challenges has involved a formal review of the police authority's governance and scrutiny arrangements of Strathclyde Police force.

Police authorities throughout Scotland have a central role to play in ensuring the delivery of a policing service that reduces crime and is responsive to the issues that matter to communities and residents throughout Strathclyde.

At a formal meeting of Strathclyde Police Authority members in June, Mr Mannings presented an extensive and detailed paper which critically assessed the authority's governance arrangements and looked at ways the authority can improve how it fulfils its legal obligations.

Authority members are considering the contents of the chief executive's report and will meet again in August to consider the recommendations contained in the review.

It is clear, in the current financial climate, that police authorities have a significantly enhanced role to play in ensuring their forces perform at optimum levels.

Police authorities are subject to rigorous joint inspection from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) and the Accounts Commission under Best Value and Community Planning inspection regimes. Strathclyde Police Authority is scheduled to be inspected by HMICS and Audit Scotland on behalf of the Accounts Commission in the autumn.


This was also published as the Police Authority's regular monthly "Convener's Column" in the internal "Upbeat" magazine of Strathclyde Police force.