Heartbeat — Ninewells Hospital stepping up security with new police base
Bobbies will go on the beat inside Ninewells Hospital in Dundee to reassure staff and patients and deter criminals.
- By Andrew Argo
- Published in the Courier : 10.02.12
- Published online : 10.02.12 @ 10.08am
A base has been set aside in the hospital for the scheme that should start soon.
Recent figures showed there were 76 crimes recorded at Ninewells last year, including a sexual assault and attacks on emergency workers.
Brian Main, head of site at Ninewells, said: ''We've identified a room and the police are looking at what equipment and so on they need to put in there, and that should be done in the next few weeks.
''It's about protecting patients, visitors and staff and making them feel more secure and confident, and we're pleased it's going ahead.''
At present, when police assistance is required at the hospital, officers have to be called in from Lochee police station.
''We want to be a bit more proactive — we don't just want to deal with problems afterwards, we want to stop them before they happen,'' said Mr Main.
The new post is just one of a number of security measures which have been brought in to safeguard patients and staff.
''We've increased to a significant degree the number of lock-down access doors across the hospital,'' said Mr Main.
''We have 24 more coming in over the next few months, and we have over 200 already on site. These secure access doors are more effective than a patrolling security guard, as you're only secure where the guard is.
''Some areas are on lockdown 24/7, while other areas are only open access during the day, as it is still a public building.
''We're also adding CCTV cameras when appropriate and when funds are available — there are in excess of 150 cameras on site now.''
Commenting on last year's crime figures, Mr Main insisted this was a relatively low level of offending considering the size of the hospital and the number of people who use it.
01.08pm - 10.02.2012 Daz Hales - Koblenz, Germany Report This
The first people to arrest are the footpads that operate the car parks...
11.55am - 11.02.2012 GB - Perth, UK Report This
This was tried a few years ago too. Why was it done away with?
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