Dial 999 for Poileas Alba, the country’s bilingual Gael force
IT is cash-strapped, has had to axe thousands of jobs and is facing cuts to officer numbers.
But with sexual and some violent crimes on the rise, Police Scotland has found time to produce a brand new ‘bilingual’ logo – featuring both English and Gaelic.
The branding, which carries both ‘Police Scotland’ and ‘Poileas Alba’, will be introduced on the service’s website and intranet.
It will also appear on signage, stationery and vehicles ‘as they are replaced on reaching the end of their serviceable life’.
The changes are being made as part of the force’s commitment to its Gaelic Language Plan. This ‘sets out the service’s pledge to creating a sustainable future for the language... by integrating it within Police Scotland’s services and corporate identity’.
Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Cowie said: ‘This is the latest step being taken by Police Scotland as we move towards full implementation of our Gaelic language plan. We are keen that Gaelic-speaking communities across the country are well served and ably represented by the national service.’
The force’s Gaelic plan is a five-year project, scheduled until 2021. Some vehicles and uniforms in the Highlands, as well as the Police Scotland helicopter, already use bilingual signage but this is now being expanded across the country. When details of the plan emerged last year, the Tories said: ‘Rather than waste time and effort on this, they [police] should be attempting to tackle the staffing and funding issues facing the force.’
The force sparked anger in 2013 after it emerged that it was splashing taxpayers’ cash on translating documents into Gaelic.
The then Chief Constable Sir Stephen House even had his name partially translated into Gaelic – appearing as Àrd Chonstabal Stìobhan House. But campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance said at the time: ‘We pay our taxes for police services, not to support a cultural agenda that discriminates in favour of a particular group.’