No closure vow as cells downgraded
Custody suite to be reclassified
Fun in the saddle at Knockdarroch
The custody suite at Perth Police Station is to be reclassified as an ancillary centre rather than a primary centre as part of a criminal justice remodelling programme.
The majority of offenders are now being taken into custody in Dundee rather than Perth.
But councillors have this week been assured the Perth custody suite is not closing.
An update on the situation was provided to Perth and Kinross Council’s housing and communities committee on Monday, May 31.
Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd said: “We’re not the only local authority area that’s going through this reconsideration.
“The actual proposal itself went to the Police Scotland joint negotiating consultative committee on January 14.
“That’s when this process of consultation began with the interested parties and it’s expected we will return to that group around June.
“If - and I stress the word if changes were made they would be made around September of this year.”
He added: “The custody facilities at Perth are not being closed. They are not being decommissioned.
“It will not impact on the Perth building itself. Perth building remains as it is working as it is so there is no impact upon that.”
CS Todd said the review had taken place to “make sure that we have better outcomes for people in custody and that we return officers to the front line”.
He told the council committee the days of the police holding people in custody overnight just because they could were “long since passed and rightly so”.
CI Todd said there was a “tremendous amount of scrutiny” over keeping people in custody and the police would only do so if there was a “very strong reason for doing so”.
As a result the committee was told there are now far less people held in custody than ever before.
CI Todd said in 2008/9 there were 18,000 people taken into custody in Tayside. Last year that figure had dropped to 7800.
He said keeping the Perth custody suite as an ancillary centre meant it could be stepped up at any point and gave the recent Scottish Cup final weekend as an example of when they did this.
Perth City Centre Conservative councillor Chris Ahern asked how officers driving people to Dundee would affect taking officers from the front line.
CI Todd said there was a “tipping point” if Dundee perhaps could not cope with an increase in those being held across the entirety of Tayside.
He said the processing time for Perth and Kinross officers at the Dundee custody suite was the key performance indicator - rather than travel - which they would monitor closely.
He said the situation would be reviewed annually and could be reversed.
The committee’s convener councillor Bob Brawn expressed concern.
The Blairgowrie and Glens councillor said: “I hope the front line officers won’t be affected by this change.
“I know people that I have spoken to continually feel the police are becoming more isolated from the public because police stations are closing, more officers are now in cars and vans by necessity because they have to cover such a wide distance.
“So I hope the plans you have will not take officers off the front line - or not for too long anyway.”
He said rural communities “rarely see a police officer” these days.