Police Scotland’s Tayside division commander, Chief Superintendent Phil Davison told Dundee council that community and frontline policing will be a priority over the next three years.
Mr Davison presented a three year plan to the local authority’s community safety and public protection committee, Monday evening.
The chief superintendent’s report laid out areas of priority for Dundee including countering drug harm and supply, antisocial behaviour and public protection.
Since 2013, police and fire divisional commanders are required to produce a local policing plan for each local authority area.
Before Mr Davison spoke about his report, George McIrvine, Scottish Labour Councillor for Coldside asked “how deliverable” the plan will be due to funding cuts for 2023/24.
In December, Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone said: “Hard choices lie ahead to deliver effective policing within the revenue budget available and our capital funding remains significantly lower than that needed to progress improvements to our technology, buildings and vehicles.”
Mr McIrvine asked how such reductions “will ultimately affect Dundee”.
‘Have you enough officers?’
He said: “If you’ve not got enough resources to protect and serve the Dundee people, that is a concern.
“And as elected members, we’ll hear that first hand from citizens across the city.
“Do you feel that you have enough operational officers and staff to carry out effective policing? Not just for this year, but year two and three as well?
Mr Davison replied: “The reality is, would I like and take more resources if it was available? Of course, I would and I think all elected members here would feel the same way, because the more resources clearly you have, the more you can do.”
He added that despite “capacity challenges” during the Covid-19 pandemic and over the past year “for a whole host of reasons” the force had responded “in a measured way” to uphold key priority areas.
Mr Davison continued: “But what I can give assurances on is that we will primarily focus into areas of the service that will enable any capacity that we need to create to push back into frontline and community policing.”
‘High visibility patrols’
Reading from the report, East End Labour councillor for Dorothy McHugh highlighted the force’s plan to conduct “high visibility patrols and engage with partner agencies.”
She asked: “What will these high visibility patrols look like within communities?”
Mr Davison answered: “It will be focused around priorities as they emerge. We all know and understand, for example, the challenges in Kirkton last year.
“So there is an example of an emergent issue that we then collaborate with partners and put together a focused plan of activity in pushing our resources in the right way.”
He continued that this will provide “clear visibility” that will provide “confidence and assurance around our communities that the police are there.”
Dundee’s senior police officer, Chief Inspector Ross Fitzgerald confirmed to Ms McHugh that the high visibility patrols will be “responsive and targeted.”
