In the middle of the busiest time of year

It will not come as a surprise to you that the festive period is our busiest time of the year.

All year round demand is high, with Police Scotland receiving over 3.5 million calls, but at this time we get around one 999 call per minute and 128 101 calls per minute. As you will understand this does stretch our resources and depending on the nature of the call, may result in us taking longer to attend but our call prioritising system is designed to ensure that those who need a quick response will get one.

We regularly use this article, as well as our social media sites, to provide advice regarding how to help keep yourself and your property safe and I would urge you all to try to follow that advice as its only by working together that we can keep our communities safe.

We are now in the middle of the party season and we have had additional patrols focused on our town centres.

Overall our officers have found the behaviour of those out socialising to be good natured. There has however been some who have acted in a manner which has caused fear and alarm to others and they have either been arrested or given a fine. As we approach the new year weekend, please trust me when I tell you that the food we provide you with in the cells is nowhere near as good as the steak pie you will get at home – so please don’t behave in a manner that will cause you to be given the jail.

Moving on from that. Last week gave a speech at the rotary club, during which, I outlined that our society has changed a great deal during the 20 years that I have been in the police.

Due to technology some crimes are now less prevalent, for example, design has meant that cars are no longer stolen by being ‘hot-wired.’

Changes to technology have also caused additional crimes with cybercrime being a real threat and a number of members of our local community have been victims of this.

It is important that our organisation adapts to this and in this regards I welcomed the news that we will invest £3.6m investment in cyber hubs will mean that state-of- the-art facilities will be set up in the north and west of the country to add to an existing hub in Edinburgh.

These specialist teams will help tackle rising demand for digital and cyber-related crime investigations and work on prevention.

We are also investing in new unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) will be used as alternatives to the force helicopter in rural and remote areas, primarily in the search for missing people.

Police Scotland receives 84 reports of missing people on a daily basis so additional technology to help us find people quickly and safety is welcomed. I don’t have any details regarding who will be piloting these drones – I am very much hoping that it won’t be the local community inspectors.

I would like to conclude by thanking our communities for the support they have provided our local officers over the year. It really is appreciated and as we enter 2018 I have no doubt that we will continue to work together with the aim of keeping our towns safe.