Policing visit to Highlands and Islands

On 7 August, I visited N Division meeting Divisional Commander Rob Shepherd and the leadership team in Inverness. I had the opportunity to hear first-hand about the priorities and issues affecting the Highlands and Islands and the challenges of policing 1/6 of the landmass of the UK with just over 500 police officers.

I am grateful to Chief Superintendent Shepherd, Superintendent Mark Czerniakiewicz and Superintendent Dave Ross for their time, efforts and insights. I also took the opportunity to meet virtually with Chief Inspector Jane Mackenzie and Inspector Samantha Greshon who cover Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles and are working hard within their island communities to address the policing issues affecting these areas and engage with local scrutiny committees.

During the visit I travelled to Dingwall Police Station and met Inspector Kay MacCrae and her team where we discussed resilience, wellbeing and effective collaboration with partners to deliver better outcomes to communities.

While in Dingwall, I also met Chief Inspector Richard Ross and Inspector Donnie Mackinnon of the Road Policing Team covering the A9 and the extensive road network in the Highlands and Islands. Road policing is a significant issue in the division for road death and injury, and we discussed the efforts being made to engage with car rental companies to build visitor awareness of the dangers and common mistakes made on the roads. Road Policing is an area of policing where officers can face some of the most gruelling of incidents and are exposed to trauma. We discussed wellbeing initiatives in place to support this exposure and innovations being implemented locally to allow officers to debrief and process that exposure.