Emergency services:

Single force a massive error in judgement – claim

Emergency calls to the police in the north-eastwill now be handled in Tayside and the central belt after Aberdeen’s centres were finally closed yesterday.

The decision to slam the door shut on the region’s control room was last night described as a “dark day” for the Granite City.

And fears were again raised that the “cost-cutting” move would result in the loss of a “vital” police resource from the area.

The controversial plans to close the city’s service centre – which takes less serious 101 calls and the area control room’s 999 responses– werefirstmooted in 2015.

As of yesterday 101 calls will now be handled by staff in Bilston Glen, Motherwell, and Govan in Glasgow, while 999 calls will be handled by the Dundee area control room.

Last night, local politicians reacted angrily to the move, which they argued could put lives at risk.

Andthey said they feared it could lead to a recurrence of the M9 tragedy in 2015 when John Yuill and partnerLamaraBell were left at the side of the road in their wrecked vehicle for three days – despite the accident being reported to police by a member of the public.

Gordon Graham, Aberdeen City Council infrastructure vice- convener, said: “The thin blue line isn’t justgetting thinner, it’s vanishing altogether. It is time for the firstminister to own up that Police Scotland has been a massive error in judgement.”

Police Scotland currently faces a £47million budget deficitwhichit is battling to reduce. It is understood that more than 80 staff have been affected by the north-east move.

Martin Greig, chairman of the Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership, said: “It is deeply worrying that we are losing a vital police resource.”

North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald added: “This is a dark day for public services in Aberdeen, which now has no police or fire control room protecting the people of the city and the wider north-east region.

“Yet again, public services in Aberdeen are suffering because the SNP would rather talk about independence than get on with the job of running the country.”

But SNP city councillor, and former police officer, Alex Nicoll, said he had visited the new centre and was “reassured” it was “state of the art”.

He added: “I would absolutely reassure the public that the technology in the place is second to none and does provide a first-class service. There have been concerns about them knowing local place names, but this system allows for updating with colloquialisms which improves it.

“It is the frontline officers with the real in-depth local knowledge and that’s the important thing.”

Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins said: “This new process will allow us to provide additional resilience at times of peak demand and during major or critical incidents.

“It will also improve our ability to respond to incidents affecting multiple locations. There will be no change to how the public contact us. They will still dial 101 and, in an emergency, it is always 999.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Police Scotland believe that the changes being implemented in relation to call handling will be key as they seek to ensure the public experience the full benefits of a single police service.”