A TARGET Things improved after talks, says charity boss
THE boss of a homelessness charity who raised fears about “excessive” stop and search said police have reassured him that the tactic will not be overused.
Director of The Marie Trust, Sandy Farquharson, right, met a senior officer after service users and volunteers were targeted at the Midland Street premises.
He said: “I met with a senior police officer about the issues with stop and search. We raised certain concerns. We do agree that stop and search is sometimes necessary – I have no problem with that – but it was slightly excessive at the time.
“The meeting was very good. We understood each other’s position and the senior officer agreed the stop and search was perhaps over the top at our building.
“I pointed out we are actually trying to help these people and keep them out of the justice system rather than put them in it.
“He agreed with that and said he would speak to his officers in the area to avoid it happening t oo often.”
Mr Farquharson said the situation has now “improved dramatically”.
He added: “There has rarely been an incident when they have done this and if there has been there was good cause for it. I am very satisfied defecating. Where that’s close to residential or office premises it can obviously lead to a conflict of interest there.”
Glasgow’s top police fficer said his men are often called out to deal with complaints about homeless people.
Chief Inspector Sutherland said: “It tends to be from the business community in Glasgow when you have people sleeping rough in fire exit doorways and basements and that type of thing.
“We will deal with that with the way things have developed.”
Grant Campbell, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Mission, said he is “aware of the impact” of stop and search on homeless people but his service users had rarely been targets.
He said: “The only recorded incident we have of bad practice was during the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter of 2013/14. We have an excellent relationship with Police Scotland who immediately dealt with the issue and have not become aware of any further incidents.”
Chief Executive of Simon Community Scotland Lorraine McGrath was unavailable for comment. first and foremost on an a dvice and guidance basis. We will speak to the homeless individuals themselves to make sure they are aware they are causing problems and that there has been a report regarding their activity and the location that they’re sleeping in.
“We’ll also try to find out why that person is homeless, who they are, why they’re in Glasgow city centre and try and assess their needs in terms of vulnerability.”
Chief Inspector Sutherland met recently with chari- ties and intends to foster a closer partnership in future.
He said: “We try to speak to the charities which do a lot of good work throughout Glasgow to try and assist where we can and I think that’s something we’ll be looking to enhance.
“We have met recently with the both The Marie Trust and the Simon Community to make sure we understand exactly what the issues are for each organisation to try to make sure our relationship is better and much more of a partnership moving forward.”