CONFIRMATION OF ARRANGEMENTS FOR FORTH VALLEY DIVISION POLICING MODEL WITHIN STIRLING AREA COMMAND I previously informed you about the changes to our Policing model through which we aim to deploy visible resources at the most effective times to deliver on Police Scotland, Forth Valley Division and local community priorities. Our aim was to implement the new policing model as close to 1 April as possible. Following appropriate consultation with staff regarding a new shift pattern that will align Community Officers more closely with that of their Response colleagues, I can advise that arrangements are complete to implement our new policing model on Monday 12 May, 2014. The new Community Officer shift pattern will be flexible enough to recognise specific community demands and responsibilities placed on Community Officers, whilst also enhancing the resources available to address calls for service from the public at peak times of demand. This will result in more officers working together towards meeting the needs and expectations of local communities. Response and Community Officers will operate as a single team on an aligned shift pattern with the same group of supervisors delivering jointly on local priorities. The new policing model reflects our staff establishment of 625 officers. This includes all ranks and specialist officers within the Divisional Criminal and Public Protection Units, as well as 354 uniform front line operational Constables. The latter have been distributed across the Division giving Falkirk Area Command 175 officers, Stirling Area Command and the remote rural area 114 officers and Clackmannanshire Area Command 65 officers. The number of operational officers deployed in Response and Community policing is based on the specific demands of both functions, as is the structure of the Area Command, which will be split into Stirling Sub Area Command and Balfron and Callander Sub Area Command. The landward areas of Forth and Endrick and Trossachs and Teith Wards will operate as a self contained rural policing model and be known as Balfron and Callander Sub Area Command. This will be locally managed as at present by Inspector Gerry McMenemy based at Callander. The rural policing model will comprise of 30 officers based at Callander and Balfron as well as the 4 remote rural officers based at Killin, Lochearnhead and Crianlarich. Officers will be allocated a Ward area to tackle local issues as well as respond to all grades of calls from the public over a 24 hour period, while also preserving our commitment to Wildlife Crime and the National Park. 1 Dunblane and Bridge of Allan Ward will continue to be managed locally by Inspector Pat Scroggie, based at Dunblane and will become part of Stirling Sub Area Command. Inspector Scroggie will also take on Stirling West Ward. Castle, Stirling East and Bannockburn Wards will continue to be managed locally by Inspector Donna Bryans. Stirling Area Command’s 4 Community Sergeants will remain at their current locations at Stirling, Bannockburn, Dunblane and Callander. Modest modifications have been made to their shift patterns to extend their availability to team members and the public during the hours of the evening economy. 35 Community Officers will be dedicated to Community Policing in Stirling Sub Area Command, spread according to policing demand in each Ward and will remain an Area Command Resource. 45 Response officers will be based at Stirling Police Office and attend more urgent calls (grade 1 and 2) and relevant standard grade calls (grade 3) in Stirling, Bannockburn, Dunblane and districts. While their primary responsibility will be attending calls in these areas, they can be directed to other areas of the Division when necessary during high demand periods, as is the case currently. Correspondingly, a further 145 Response officers based at Falkirk, Grangemouth and Alloa Police Offices can similarly be called upon to assist Stirling Area Command during periods of high demand. The above split of Community Officers provides a growth in community teams and this will provide the resilience to meet partnership and community commitments, while offering options to work across teams to respond to community concerns. For example, while the Community Officer for an area will continue to attend Community Council meetings in line with their shift pattern, when they are not on duty this commitment will extend to other Community Officers within the Ward to ensure through shared ownership that there is police representation as often as possible. A standard report covering local issues will be submitted to every Community Council meeting to ensure that such updates are available as a minimum level of service when officers are unavailable. The increased allocation of officers to each Ward will allow other members of the team to pick up work relating to individual areas when a given Community Officer is not on duty. In line with other Divisions we will be enhancing the roles and capabilities of specialist units in Operations and CID, which will improve our flexibility to respond to ongoing issues and take workload from frontline officers. This will be achieved by increasing our Community Investigation Unit by 4 posts, providing Stirling Area Command with a dedicated team of 1 Sergeant and 6 Constables to tackle acquisitive and violent crime. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) 2 will increase by 20 posts, enabling us to create a Proactive CID, enhance the Divisional Rape Investigation, Domestic Abuse and Violence Reduction Units and make significant improvements to Child Protection and Adult Support and Protection. It is important to highlight that the above represents only the local policing resource picture. Local resources are the core complement of officers under my direction as Divisional Commander. The Divisional Road Policing Unit contains a further 22 officers. Over and above these Divisional resources I have access to and regularly call upon some of the 951 specialist resources that are available to me across East Command at a regional level, such as Major Investigation Teams and Armed Policing Units. Similarly, the Division fully utilises the 1252 resources available nationally, such as the National Rape Investigation Unit, Human Trafficking Unit and operational support resources such as the Air Support and the Mounted Unit. As well as these specialist resources, the Division can regularly access additional support to police large scale events or major incidents. I hope this information gives confidence in our commitment to community based policing and is helpful to your understanding of how the new policing model will be structured and resourced and supported regionally and nationally. Myself and other members of the management team look forward to discussing the model in person and answering any questions that you may have during our forthcoming contacts at Stirling Council Public Safety Committee, Community Council and partnership meetings. At this time we will also be happy to share with you the details of new faces in your Community Policing Teams. In the interim please feel welcome to contact the Area Commander, Chief Inspector Russell Penman direct if any additional local perspective is needed. David Flynn Ch Superintendent Divisional Commander Forth Valley Division 02 May, 2014 3.