SCOTLAND is to have a single non-emergency number to make it easier to contact the police, and a specialist crime unit to co-ordinate the fight against terrorism and organised crime.
Chief Constable Kevin Smith, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos), said the new Police Service of Scotland will introduce 101, the new non-emergency number, and a Specialist Crime Directorate.
The 101 number has already been introduced south of the Border and will make local police station numbers redundant.
Speaking at the annual Acpos conference in Dunblane, Mr Smith said: "We are planning for some clear change for day one. Plans that fit perfectly with the objectives of reform, in ensuring we build on and improve local policing, while delivering specialist resources more equitably across Scotland.
"So our plan is to introduce a single non-emergency number across Scotland, so that no matter where you are, dialling three digits, 101, will get you through to your local police contact centre, whether that is in Glasgow or in Shetland."
It also emerged murders will be dealt with by national specialists under the plans.
Assistant Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, of Lothian and Borders Police, said the new Specialist Crime Directorate will deal with all homicides.
He said: "It will handle all homicides, overt and covert investigations and incorporate all intelligence-led and covert capabilities. There will be a single command but the officers and specialists will be located all over Scotland."
It will incorporate specialists from the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), which will no longer exist in April 2013, special branch members from the current eight forces, covert surveillance teams and specialists in human trafficking, organised crime and violence.
Mr Smith, who is leading the reforms that will see the eight Scottish forces amalgamated into one, pointed out that chief officers have been fettered in their proposals by Scottish Government pledges which mean they have to maintain police numbers and make no compulsory redundancies whilst making massive budget cuts.
He told delegates: "That's not to say that we are unfettered. We have some fairly significant restrictions placed upon us through maintaining police numbers, no compulsory redundancy, a dispersed model, and no significant outsourcing."
Mr Smith also said losing control rooms after the merger is too high a risk, adding: "To try and reduce and rationalise our contact centres and control rooms is too high-risk in the short-term."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article