Far north officers recruited for Dounreay posts
THE Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC)’s drive to recruit officers at Dounreay from the far north is paying dividends.
Twelve rookies passed out at the force’s first graduation ceremony in Thurso after completing their training to take up posts at the atom plant.
All but one of the recruits comes from Caithness, with the other relocating from Inverness to work at the site. CNC has been keen to hire more people from the far north, with the total now standing at 30.
CNC assistant chief constable Christopher Armitt said that in the past it has recruited officers from further afield to work at Dounreay, with mixed results.
He is thrilled that more people from Caithness want to join the force, which is employed to guard civil nuclear bases throughout the UK.
“I couldn’t quite understand why we were sending officers from the south coast of England at the age of 21 to the far north of Scotland,” he said.
“I wasn’t surprised when some struggled to make their lives here as they were so far away from their families. Some loved it and settled here, but we were losing officers who struggled to settle and felt they couldn’t stay here.
“Our challenge was to advertise what our organisation does in Caithness, and recruit people who are based in the area. That is what we have done with this intake and I am delighted it is working.”
Each of the recruits went through a 16-week training course where they had to pass tests including knowledge of the law, as well as firearms training and fitness tests.
The latest batch to complete the course are aged from 21 to 41 and include three ex-military personnel.
Mr Armitt said that with terrorist attacks taking place across Europe and around the world, the UK is on a high state of alert and he said the importance of having trained CNC officers at Dounreay could not be understated.
“The focus of this organisation is about security,” Mr Armitt said. “The consequences of a terrorist attack could not be higher and could be catastrophic.
“The threat to the UK and Europe and many countries around the world is now unprecedented.
“CNC is designed to ensure that, in the case of an attempted terror attack at a nuclear site in the UK, the terrorists can’t do it and are denied access to high-risk nuclear material.
The newly qualified CNC police constables are Daryl Aitken, Aimee Begg, Sarah Brooks, Stephen Coull, Richard Hollick, Michael Macaskill, Mark MacDonald, David McCorquodale, Shaun McKenzie, Jennifer McLachlan, Thomas Sutherland and Vicki Swan.