Informative start to Probus season

The first meeting of the 201415 season of Cambuslang Probus Club was held in Kirkhill Bowling Club clubhouse.

The club president, Peter Mullen, welcomed all members.

The secretary read out apologies for absence and welcomed new members.

Sadly the club has suffered the loss of five members since last year. As a mark of respect members were asked to be upstanding to observe a short silence.

Peter then introduced Sergeant Colin Wallace from Rutherglen Police Office to address the meeting on the subject of community policing. Sergeant Wallace proceeded to give a very interesting and informative talk on the nature of community policing, its development, its areas of interest and concern.

He covered his own involvement, the commitment the police have made, its relationship to policing as a whole, and many of the initiatives undertaken - and their successes - particularly in the Cambuslang and Rutherglen areas.

One of these is the deployment of campus officers, where an officer is allocated to a school or small group of schools and works closely with staff and pupils. Rutherglen has two of these. This has helped develop and improve relations with the public, particularly young people.

Also of considerable value has been the involvement with partner agencies which has often allowed a more holistic approach to dealing with problems, particularly those involving gangs and disorder.

Sergeant Wallace identified involvement with local businesses, and a commitment to educational work - that is, educating the general public about crime and safety, as opposed to what people may normally think of as policing – as being of particular value.

One initiative of which some of the members were aware is Safer Rutherglen which has a website (www. saferrutherglen.co.uk).

This was followed a substantial question and answer session which was also very interesting and could well have gone on longer had not duty called and the sergeant had to leave.

The president then gave a vote of thanks in which he expressed the meeting’s appreciation to Sergeant Wallace for his talk which had held the audience’s attention throughout and which had raised levels of awareness of the local police and their role in the community.

He then closed the meeting advising that the next one will be held on Thursday, November 13, in Kirkhill Bowling Club clubhouse, Cambuslang at 2.00pm when the speaker will be Kenny Smith, editor of the Rutherglen Reformer.