LAYING It’s a privilege to take over
WITH DIVISIONAL COMMANDER CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT DAVID DUNCAN
This is my first column for the Paisley Daily Express and I’d like to start by saying how privileged I feel to be appointed divisional commander for Renfrewshire and Inverclyde and pay tribute to Chief Superintendant Alan Murray, who has left big shoes for me to fill.
I hope that I can provide you with some insight into the challenges that officers face and how we value, so much, the support we get from you as the public we serve.
Alan had a style of his own in writing these columns - you can judge over time if I match up.
Hopefully you will bear with me in my first effort.
I have managed to get out of my office for brief periods and have met some members of the public in the town centre – while maintaining social distancing as you’d expect.
I have been made to feel very welcome and that’s added to my sense of community here.
I’ve also spent some time with partners from the council, working on our collective plans to keep everyone as safe as possible during the continuing pandemic.
I’ve seen some really excellent work so far and confident that we are working as a team.
In terms of operational policing, as you’d expect, I’ve already seen how officers are dealing with problems across Renfrewshire and feel proud of the efforts I’ve seen especially given the risks they face, all the more stark due to Covid-19.
We are continuing to see hugely positive levels of compliance by the general public with the restrictions in place. However, it still amazes me that there is a small minority of people who show blatant disregard for the safety of others and scant regard for their own.
We still see too many gatherings in houses, people travelling ridiculous distances for no reason and if you are going to do that then officers will resort to enforcement.
If you are fined and commit further offences the financial penalties are severe: my advice is just stick to the rules and help keep us all safe.
I am committed to tackling violent crime in this area and have seen several arrests of offenders who seem to think violence is part of daily life.
We continue to recover weapons through our efforts, taking these off the streets and arresting those in possession.
We will actively pursue offenders and rely on public support to identify those who pose a threat to the public.
If you have any information you can report this to us in person, by phone to us on
101, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
The scourge of drugs is also a priority for me.
I am acutely aware of the harm that drugs pose to individuals, their families and our communities.
Organised criminals profit from this harm and I am determined to disrupt and dismantle their networks.
I have seen several arrests for supply of drugs in my first couple of weeks and this will continue.
I am, however, also committed to helping people who are affected by drug use and working with partners to get them out of dangerous lifestyles and into treatment, away from the justice system. Again, we rely on public support to tackle this issue and reduce the all too prevalent rate of drug deaths we see: if you have information that will help, please, let us know.
Finally, I am seeing far too many assaults on emergency workers including police officers but also staff from other services. This is unacceptable.
We will not tolerate any such behaviour and will take robust action.
We see public support for all services but a minority of individuals remain a problem.