Glenrothes and Stirling will lose their police control rooms while Dundee will be made Scotland’s north area command centre under plans being unveiled.
The Courier can reveal that bases where emergency calls are answered in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Motherwell and Glasgow Pitt Street also all have the axe hanging over them under the Police Scotland proposals.
It is estimated up to 500 staff could be hit through either relocation or redundancy.
As part of the package being put forward, Dundee’s control room appears to have won the battle to become the north base of operations against the more expensive site in Aberdeen.
Helen Street in Glasgow’s Govan area and Bilston Glen, near Edinburgh, have always been strong favourites to be the west and east command centres.
These moves will be formalised when the recommendations are published on the website of force watchdog, the Scottish Police Authority, at lunchtime.
The site in Inverness is to be put forward to become Scotland’s control centre.
Responsibilities include dealing with major events, and hosting the IT for the police national computer and criminalhistory database.A final decision will be taken in a week but one source described the process as a “rubber stamp job”.
It is understood that, despite the removal of local knowledge for many communities, officials feel the proposals will give a better service through improved equipment for call handlers.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie previously clashed with First MinisterAlex Salmond last year over the policy of “centralisation” as he revealed the closures were on policing bosses’ minds.
Last night, the party’s justice spokesperson, Alison McInnes, said: “Until now, frontline police control rooms such as Glenrothes have ensured that the vital local knowledge needed for time-criticalemergencies has been valued and nurtured.
“The SNP Government’s lack of respect for local communities has allowed the axe to fall on our courts, police counters and now police and fire emergency control rooms.”
Labour’s justice spokesman and ex-senior police officer, Graeme Pearson, said: “In addition to all the other losses suffered in the last eight or nine months, there is no doubt support staff will feel bruised.”
Mr Pearson’s prediction was borne out by George McIrvine, branch secretary for UNISON Police Staff Scotland, who said his members “feared the worst” about today’s announcement.
He added: “This will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect when members of the public are looking to contact the police, with staff local knowledge and experience relocated to another part of the country.
“It’s yet another centralisation agenda to cut costs with little or no thought as to the impact it will have in the local communities, economy and on an already demoralised workforce. who face travelling many miles a day to keep a job to pay the bills and keep a roof over their head.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police Scotland is reviewing all areas of business, including the current structure of our contact centres and control rooms.
“Changes will be subject to full consultation with staff and approval of the Scottish Police Authority. We are not in a position to confirm final structures at this time.”