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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.
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.
Personnel
The Forces Senior Management Team as of 17 April 2009 are as
follows:
- Chief Constable: Stephen House QPM
- Deputy Chief Constable: Neil Richardson
- Temporary Assistant Chief Constable (Community Safety and
Criminal Justice): Hamish Cormack
- Assistant Chief Constable (Crime): George Hamilton
- Assistant Chief Constable (Territorial Policing): John
Neilson
- Assistant Chief Constable (Operational Support): Fiona
Taylor
- Director of Legal Services: Ian McPherson LLB NP
- Director of Finance and Resources: Allan Macleod BA (Hons),
MBA, CPFA
History
Strathclyde Police was created on
May 16,
1975 from the merger of several police
services:
Organisation
Since the 23rd of 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 4 Assistant Chief Constables (ACC).
In 2006/7 the Force recorded 426,018 crimes and offences, 1.7% down
from the previous year. Of these 324,763 were detected, 3.3% down
from the previous year. The overall detection rate was 69.1%, down
1.2% from the previous year.
In 2006/7 there were 77 recorded murders/culpable homicides
(detection rate 98.75), 374 attempt murders (detection rate
76.5%)and 4,434 serious assaults (detection rate 45.2%. The murder
rate was up 2.9%, the attempt murder rate was down 0.8% and the
serious assault rate was up 0.3% from 2005/6.
In 2006/7 there were 92 road traffic deaths, a reduction from the
100 deaths in 2005/6. The total number of recorded road crashes was
19,502; of which 88 involved fatalities and 905 were serious.
The type of crime least likely to be detected is theft from an
insecure motor vehicle at 8.9%.
The Force has a revenue budget of £550 million. (2006-7)
The Territorial Divisions are commanded by an officer of Chief
Superintendent rank supported by their deputy who holds the rank of
Superintendent. These Divisions are further sub divided into a
number of Sub Divisions, which are commanded by a Sub Divisional
Officer (S.D.O.) of Superintendent rank supported by a Deputy Sub
Divisional Officer (D.S.D.O.) of Chief Inspector Rank. The
exception to this is LB Sub Division which covers the Argyll area.
There is a
Superintendent based at Dunoon with three Chief Inspectors
designated as Deputy Sub Divisional Officer, they are based at the
three main stations (Oban
, Dunoon
and Campbeltown
), the latter also covering
Lochgilphead.
Strathclyde police currently employ over 8,000 police officers and
approximately 2,800 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 also currently employ over 20 cadets (as of 01/10/09) who
work initially inside the police office helping members of the
public with their enquiries, they also go on secondments to other
departments within the force, such as, the mounted branch, CID, dog
branch and road policing. As of March 2008 the cadet scheme has
been closed and is no longer accepting applications. Cadets who
joined prior to March 2008 continued their posts as normal.The
Cadet Programme normally lasts between 1 and 2 years with the cadet
having to resign before their 19th birthday. Cadets do not progress
straight into the Police as a Constable automatically - they must
apply like any other member of the public. The only difference is
that they are progressed to final interview panel stage, and don't
need to sit the SET or go through any intial or home interviews. It
should be noted however, cadets had to pass all of the before
mentioned, during their initial cadet applications.
Full details are available in the Public Performance Report 2006-7,
which can be downloaded from the Strathclyde Police website.
The force features in the TV
detective
series
Taggart.
Uniform
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 2002.
The current all-black uniform is composed of black short sleeved
Under Armour-style 'wicking' T-shirts
with Police insignia in white displayed on both sleeves and
epaulette straps on each shoulder for the affixing of Divisional
identifier number and insignia of rank. Trousers are of a USA army
style cargo pocket style i.e. two thigh pockets and two
conventional side and rear pockets.
Worn over the wicking top on all operational duties is a
Stab vest which until recently was supplied by
Highmark Ltd, Body armour is now supplied by Hawk Protection
[204347]. The insignia of Strathclyde Police
[204348] is sown on the left breast of this
garment. 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.
Waterproof jackets in two styles are also provided, all black, and
fluorescent, both are zip and stud fastening. 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
Personal equipment consists of a
Police
duty belt holding an officer's personal issue protective
equipment i.e.
Hiatts Speedcuffs,
21"
Autolock baton with
a Hindi cap and
CS/ PAVA incapacitant
spray.
Support Unit officers are supplied with the longer 23" Autolock
batons.
The force's
Panda car fleet consists
primarily of
Ford Focus
vehicles, with
BMW 525d and
530d's 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 Mercedes van. Divisional
Police vans are predominantly of the
Volkswagen Transporter type.
All marked vehicles feature high visibility
Battenburg markings.
The
Strathclyde Police Air Support Unit has Scotland's only police
helicopter and consists of a Eurocopter EC 135T2 Plus (G-SPAO)
based at the Glasgow City Heliport
. This Helicopter is painted in PSDB
high-conspicuity colours of dark blue with a yellow top but it is
backed up with a red EC135T1 (G-BZRS). Both aircraft are supplied
on a contract basis by BAS (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.
References
2. Public Performance Report 2006-7.
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