Profile of Glasgow South Division – noted.

6 There was submitted a report by the Procurator Fiscal on the profile of the Glasgow South Division and advising

(1) that the South Division COPFS encompassed most of Strathclyde Police ‘G’ Division and one sub division of the north west area South Lanarkshire ‘Q’ division, viz ‘QD’;

(2) all cases occurring in Glasgow reported by the Roads Traffic Policing Complex in Govan are submitted to South Division COPFS;

(3) of the varied communities, including a large population of Ethnic Minorities and Asylum Seekers, within G and QD divisions and the police sub divisions of Govan (GA), Pollok (GB), Cathcart (GD), New Gorbals (GE) and Rutherglen and Cambuslang (QD);

(4) that the police sub-divisions all had diverse profiles which encompassed some areas of social deprivation whilst others were more affluent;

(5) the number of criminal reports submitted to the Glasgow Office in the Financial year 2009 to 2010 was 65,244, the number of criminal reports submitted to South Division was 23,072 or 35% of the criminal caseload for the Glasgow Office;

(6) the South Division had ensured, through its robust approach to summary cases, that the workload had been placed within the appropriate court in a timely and efficient manner in line with National and Area protocols and extensive use of the Stipendiary and ;

(6) that three experienced teams within a specialised High Court division had been set up to take forward cases involving Homicide, Sexual Offences and Serious Crime; and

(7) a dedicated Domestic Abuse Unit had been established in March 2009 in the South Division which brought together specially trained prosecutors and fiscal officers from Glasgow wide to receive cases from the three Strathclyde Police Divisions, A, B and C along with QD Sub Division.

After discussion, the committee

(a) having heard that there were 74.5 staff members, divided into seven teams, namely

(A) Summary team;

(B) Initial case Processing:

(C) Solemn team;

Glasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DU (D) Disclosure team;

(E) Victim Information and Advice (VIA);

(F) Management team; and

(G) Domestic Abuse team;

(b) noted that

(i) a dedicated and experienced Domestic Abuse Unit had been established to work closely with the police and other external support agencies such as ASSIST to provide a valuable service to eligible victims, witnesses and bereaved relatives;

(ii) two Domestic Abuse courts sat every weekday with a third court soon to be added to cope with the average 212 referrals per month received by the Victim Information and Advice unit;

(iii) the Procurator Fiscal’s Office liaised with criminal justice partners in various initiatives including persistent offenders, child protection, serious and racist crimes;

(iv) the Procurator Fiscal’s office was subject to establishment inspection, self assessment, and the decision making process published and set down by guidelines from the Lord ; and

(v) representatives from each of the Glasgow Divisions had a place on the Area Diversity team which

(A) promoted equality related to race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and religion and belief;

(B) liaised and improved contracts with local communities;

(C) sought ways to maintain its success across all areas of diversity in Glasgow;

(vi) G Division had within its boundaries, both the National Stadium at Hampden and Rangers Football Club Stadium at Ibrox, the Deputy and Divisional Fiscal attend matches in order to find out how the police go about planning and executing policing of such events;

(vii) if a person has been charged with breach of the peace at a match under the football banning order laws, the Fiscal can request the to instruct the police to monitor supporters and if necessary prevent them from travelling outwith the United Kingdom by withholding their passports;

(c) thanked Ms Martin for her informative report.

Glasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DU