Police should be delivering like Tesco, says senior officer

More home visits after stations are shut

A SENIOR officer has called for Police Scotland to operate like the major supermarkets in the way it delivers services to the public.

Chief Superintendent Ivor Marshall said police stations were becoming less essential as officers were able to go to people’s homes, in the same way Tesco and Sainsbury’s do when delivering groceries ordered online.

Police are also setting up bases in cafes and community centres, which Mr Marshall likened to Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local – smaller branches in more densely populated areas, rather than big out-of-town stores.

Many police stations are being shut to the public and, in some cases, sold

‘Don’t get too remote’

off to raise cash – despite fears that public safety is being jeopardised.

Police chiefs insist most people now prefer to communicate with the force by phone or online.

Last night there was concern that, in trying to justify further police station closures, Mr Marshall’s retail store comparison risked a further diminution in the quality of the service cashstrapped Police Scotland offers to the public.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘This is a slightly odd analogy to use but the key to making this work is proximity, visibility and accessibility to the public. Local policing is always to be encouraged.’

Mr Marshall, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, told the Mail it was important that, with all the change involved in the transition to the single Police Scotland force, ‘we don’t get too remote’.

He said: ‘If you look at what happened in some of the industries [for example] the retail trade… they went through a cycle of “let’s build big supermarkets, let’s move out of town”.

‘But what are Tesco and all these people doing now? They want to stay close and local to people.’

Mr Marshall said there was a ‘visibility about police stations and a sense of presence’ but added: ‘The reality, though, is that because of the way things are with modern technology, there aren’t really as many reasons for people to go to a physical police station.

‘Picking up with that analogy with the retail trade, Tesco and Sainsbury’s deliver. Police deliver: we’re out there in cars, on motorbikes or on pushbikes.’

He continued: ‘If someone needs our help in a time of crisis, we’ve got all the infrastructure to go and deliver that service to them, wherever they are.’

He acknowledged the police were not the same as supermarkets as the single force is a ‘monopoly services provider’, but he said: ‘It’s about a model of being closer to the people we serve.’

Mr Kerr said: ‘There might be a reason to reduce the number of crumbling, underfunded stations which pay massive rates because of the SNP. But this must not be used as an excuse to close local stations unnecessarily.’

In 2016, former Scottish Police Authority chairman Andrew Flanagan said that officers could be based in gyms, post offices and supermarkets as more stations are closed.

Earlier this year, it emerged that victims of a crime would be able to report it to police in a Costa coffee shop in Glenrothes, Fife, under an ‘engagement initiative’.

‘This must not be used as an excuse’