EXCLUSIVE | WATCH: Local police control room closure concerns for vulnerable

The founder of an Inverness-based mental health support network says removing the local control room in the Highland capital could impact greatly on vulnerable people.

Ron Williamson, from suicide prevention charity MikeysLine, contacted us on MFR's Facebook to say officers are dealing with an ever growing number of mental health emergencies, and there is no substitute for local knowledge when it comes to sending police to that sort of emergency.

He told MFR News: "At a time of high stress & confusion, the last thing someone with immediate mental health problems needs is to be explaining, enunciating/spelling place names etc to someone with absolutely no idea what or where, for instance, Ault-na-Sciach is.

"I don't believe they have any idea how complex this is going to be. Perhaps in the terms of 'normal' policing - ie. burglary, traffic and other crime - possibly they'd come to get round the enormity of that.

"But when it comes down to mental health problems and people in distress, that was never normally a police problem, therefore they'd never be able to come to terms with that.

"The Police are having to adapt to the will of Holyrood - this was not a Police decision - this has been forced upon them by the Scottish Government.

"Mikeysline, or the Samaritans, or organisations like that - we have an extremely good working relationship with local police and can get through to them without abusing the system in cases of emergency.

"We need assurances that we'll still be able to do that.

"We also need assurances that when people contact 101 in distress that it's taken seriously, it's dealt with immediately, and it needs to go to that local area."

Since Aberdeen's local police control room was closed in March, and was replaced by facilities in the central belt, we’ve seen a number of incidents including officers being dispatched to the wrong location - even hundreds of miles away.

As part of a series of special reports following an MFR News investigation, we've spoken exclusively to Police Scotland insiders, who have given us their views on the Scottish Government's centralisation programme, which could see the Scottish Police Authority at the end of August approve plans to relocate the Inverness control room to police facilities in the central belt.

One whistle-blower said: "I can understand why it's been done, because at present moment in time the police - across all departments - are suffering from an unprecedented level of cutbacks.

"Our department - it's an important department - because we're there to take the initial call, make sure every detail is correct to pass on to officers that go, and we probably saved officers a lot of work in terms of going to jobs, and when they were at jobs.

"The best solution would have been to keep all the control rooms, and to keep all the service centres as they were.

"The simple harsh reality is that the money isn't there."

Notably, back in April police were called to a potential break in at the Tesco on Aberdeen’s Great Western Road, but officers were mistakenly sent to a store in Glasgow on a road with the same name.

Three hours later, they finally arrived at the North East supermarket. At the time, MFR News asked police what had happened, and they told us: "The call was graded appropriately based on the initial information provided and allocated to officers.

"After receiving further information about the location of the store, officers in Aberdeen were in attendance by 8.50am."

Now, we’ve been finding out what caused the mix-up.

Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins told us what went wrong: "In truth, Great Western Road was down to individual human error.

When you call police for help now, your call will go through to the first available adviser, who could be based at any of the force's three call centres in the country.

If they decide officers should be sent out to your location, the call-handler will transfer you to a facility in Dundee, from where local officers are dispatched.

This might trouble you, and you might be worried that staff in Glasgow won’t understand your accent, or know where you are. But we’re hearing the minute you dial through, your location is flagged up, then call-handlers have a number of systems to find your exact location.

A.C.C. Hawkins explains: "We have some I.C.T. systems that have proved really helpful. We've got a system called The Gazetteer which is an electronic location-based system, and we upload that from local authorities across the country, and it gives us comprehensive details of house names, house numbers, streets, and roads.

"Including the known as, or colloquial, and alias names, and it's a system that’s updated constantly. It also includes landmarks - schools, hospitals, mountain ranges.

"Our service advisers have that information at their fingertips, and they also have access to mapping systems.

"So that, alongside the planning and the training and the exercising that they do, gives them that ability to respond to local place names, and gives the local knowledge that is needed."

In a statement, a Scottish Government spokesperson said:

"This is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland. Ministers have been clear about the need for such decisions to be underpinned by assurance activity and also noted that the independent HM Inspectorate was satisfied with the governance, planning, engagement and technical preparation for the transfer.

"An HMICS review of call handling – instructed by the Justice Secretary – recommended the introduction of mechanism to record ‘notable incidents’, designed to improve the quality of service to the public. Police Scotland has implemented that system, and is committed to promoting best practice and continuous improvement.

"We expect the SPA to have robust processes in place to monitor performance in relation to all aspects of call handling.

"Furthermore, the allocation of police resources in any given area is a matter for the relevant Chief Constable.

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