New non-emergency number for police in Highlands

A NEW non-emergency phone number for the police in the Highlands is on the cards and it could spell the end for the public dialling their local station.

Anybody seeking the police will have to dial 101 from early next year if they want to report minor incidents instead of picking up the phone and ringing their nearest station directly.

Northern Constabulary believes the change, which has been questioned by a veteran Highland councillor who warned it could lead to mistakes and a loss of connection between communities and police, will help it meet national targets for answering phone calls.

The force will also review its station opening hours across the region.

The launch of the new contact number, which is already used in England and Wales, will be heavily publicised early in the New Year.

The 101 number will bypass local police stations and be answered by control room staff in Inverness instead.

The changes will come into effect before the start of the national police force next April.

Critics of the new set up, which will see the end of eight police forces, had warned it would lead to less local accountability and more centralisation.

Chief constable George Graham said he fully understood the concerns but insisted the change would not see communities cut off from their police station.

“We are already answering all the critical 999 calls in Inverness already, that is centralised,” he said.

“The 101 number will be the same. We have a fall back facility in Dingwall which we test regularly so we could re-route calls.”

The chief constable said callers could be put thought to their local police after calling 101 if they requested but did not know if the change meant that phone numbers for police stations would no longer be provided to the public.

Asked if it could increase concerns among communities that the new police set up will be more remote, chief constable Graham said: “We will still have local police officers, still have local people working for us and they will still able to speak to them.”

He told the Northern Joint Police Board, which met in Inverness today (29.11), that it could roughly cost up to £90,000 to install the technology required at telephone exchanges across the Highlands so the 101 number could be linked to stations.

Board member Brian Murphy said the new catch all phone number was a disappointing move given the huge size of the geographical area.

The Lochaber councillor warned the potential for mistakes was “quite considerable” because Inverness-based staff would not posses the local knowledge needed for specific Highland areas.

Fellow board member Roger Saxon (Thurso) was concerned the public would get confused with the 999 and 101 numbers but was reassured to learn all the calls would be answered in Inverness and not elsewhere in Scotland.