New police plan coming

As is common with a number of organisations Police Scotland constantly reviews its sense of purpose and core functions to help to ensure that it meets the needs of the people it serves.

Many of you will know that our new Chief Constable Phil Gormley was appointed last year, and after a period of close scrutiny he has outlined a 10-year plan to rationalise and modernise the service.

This process will be underpinned by four key pillars which are:

· Protecting the public – This is of course our key focus and is about working closely in our communities in order to understand the threats posed to those most vulnerable to harm and to take action to support these people and to mitigate the risks

·Localism and serving diverse communities – Every area has varying needs and it is important that we listen closely to our diverse communities and deliver, along with our partner agencies, solutions that improve the lives of those who we serve

·A sustainable operating model - In order to meet the needs outlined above we must have the right resources in the right places at the right time.

·Culture and performance – We must ensure that our workforce has the right skills and ability to address the changing and emergent demands and to ensure we deliver an excellent service for our Scottish communities for the long term.

These pillars are set against a backdrop of a 40 year low in recorded crime in Scotland and our priorities will continue to be

·Reducing violence, disorder and antisocial behaviour

·Reducing deaths and injuries on the roads while reducing the opportunity for criminal use of the road

·Protecting those most at risk of harm in our communities; tackling the causes and effects of serious organised crime ·Countering terrorism. What this means locally for Rutherglen and Cambuslang is that we will continue to strive to work better to listen to your concerns and deliver sustainable solutions to help everyone.

The Chief Constable has made it clear that he will empower local police leaders to use their discretion and to make local decisions. We are presently reviewing our local community policing plan in order to improve local engagement.

Police Scotland are facing unprecedented challenges and we won’t get everything right all of the time. We fully expect you to hold us to account, but I can promise that we will strive to deliver excellent local policing and will endeavour to gain your trust and confidence. Chief Inspector Gillian Scott

Dear Mr Purdie, Would you be willing to meet with myself and Jennifer Gough to discuss the future of South Lanarkshire’s (SLC) new One Stop Shop?

We are both parents of autistic children and used the Scottish Autism Lanarkshire One Stop Shop regularly. Parents were promised on May that SLC would open a like for like service and even improve on the service. Parents were also promised a second meeting.

Neither of these have materialised and I am amazed at the “stories” that are being told by SLC to papers, the Children’s Commissioner and MSPs about the service which is being offered at present.

So far everyone has refused to meet with me including Harry Stevenson.

If you are not willing to meet with Jennifer and myself please can you explain why as the people we are speaking to who are involved in setting up the “one stop shop” are obviously not escalating our concerns and the desperation of the families.

Parents are sobbing because they are at breaking point and there is not a fulltime trained and experienced autism advisor working at this new service able to help them. Children lives are being destroyed by SLC and the lack of autism support.

All we want is for someone to listen to what families need and see how the closure of the Scottish Autism Lanarkshire One Stop Shop has left families with nothing. Karen Noble, By email.

the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the first ever such attack in the history of warfare.

In the aftermath, despite an approach made and terms offered, the Japanese government gave no indication of surrender.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, a significant number of its population were of the Christian faith. It is possible that some, if not all of the bomber crew were also. Five days later, on August 14, Japan surrendered, thus bringing to an end World War Two, the most terrible in all history.

These attacks resulted in the colossal loss of life and casualties, military and civilian, including allied prisoners of war and destruction on a massive scale.

In 1945, Japanese cities and towns had few stone or concrete buildings, they were highly inflammable, perhaps they still are.

For the first time ever victims were exposed to radiation. In the initial stage of the attack, lives lost and people wounded would be the result of heat and blast.

In the years that followed, radiation sickness would cause further deaths, miscarriages and other illness.

With the capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa by US forces, the entire Japanese mainland was within reach of US military aircraft. In the taking of these islands, civilian lives were lost along with casualties.

From that point onwards, Japan was subject to round-the-clock bombing. Some 56 cities and towns were targeted with conventional bombs, high explosive and incendiary devices, resulting in high loss of lives and injury.

The Japanese in these cities and towns were like those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, mums, dads, brothers, sisters.

Human beings, they loved their children, just as much as American and British parents.

If then, we are to commemorate those who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are those who suffered loss of life and burns and wounds elsewhere in Japan not worthy of commemoration also?

They were human beings too, as those in London, Dresden, Hamburg, Clydebank, Greenock, the Clyde valley, Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Berlin, Ranggon and so many other places.

It was Benjamin Franklin who wrote: “There was never a good war, or a bad peace”.

Joe Allan

Westwood I am writing to you to bring to your readers’attention the rare genetic condition tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC).

Not many people have heard of TSC, but every month 10 babies will be diagnosed with this rare genetic condition in the UK alone. And there are currently an estimated 9,000 adults and children living with TSC in the UK today.

Tuberous sclerosis complex is an extremely challenging condition for which there is no known cure.

If any reader would like more information about our fundraising activities please go to www.tuberoussclerosis.org Emma Damian-Grint, Head of Fundraising and Communications, TSA I was happy to read that the proposed march by Independent Republican Bands Scotland did not get the go ahead.

I think the council and police made a fair judgement on what can be a difficult judgement on people’s right to freedom of expression.

Given what happened in 2014 when a riot almost broke out in Castlemilk, the police and South Lanarkshire Council could not, in good conscience, allow this parade to go ahead.

I also believe that people in Scotland should look forward and focus on anti-sectarianism initiatives as opposed to continually looking back.

Why are there no parades celebrating what unites us?

In this time of economic and political uncertainty, people must look hard to find the positives in Scotland, as opposed to highlight issues which divide and in some cases - like 2014 - cause civic unrest. Name and address supplied

OpenlettertoSLC Rememberthemall

News that a proposed Republican march through Castlemilk and Rutherglen was thrown out by South Lanarkshire Council was largely supported on social media.

Independent Republican Bands Scotland had intended to host an anti-internment march on Saturday, August 6.

Writing on the Rutherglen Reformer Facebook page Robert Colquhoun said:“That’s the problem, Glasgow/Scotland is loyalist and has been for many years. Only in recent years has Republican walks started up. Each to their own, but without a doubt, with so many loyalists in Glasgow there’s always going to be protests and trouble when Republicans march.”

Lesley Colligan said:“All marches like these from both sides should be banned.”

But Kenny McCallion said: “You can’t compare these marches to the orange ones. The Orange Order is a culture just like any other. I think it’s small minded people who say the orange should be banned.”

Tuberoussclerosis