Supporting officers and staff

Chief Constable's Bravery and Excellence Awards
On 27 February, I hosted my annual Bravery and Excellence Awards for 2024, which celebrates the outstanding contributions to policing and our communities from the previous 12 months.
Every year, these awards highlight the bravery and excellence that is shown day-in and day-out throughout Scotland. They remind us all of the incredible work our colleagues and members of the public do to keep our communities safe and thriving, often putting themselves in the face of danger to save someone else.
Reading the nominations, powerful illustrations of bravery and inspiring examples of skill, professionalism and dedication, has been a great pleasure and a real highlight of my year.
The Greater Glasgow Child Abuse Investigations Unit received the overall award. The unit’s work resulted in a group of abusers being jailed for a total of 93 years and given Orders for Lifelong Restriction for the sexual abuse of children in the Glasgow area between 2012 and 2019.
I want to congratulate all the winners and nominees for the valuable contribution to our communities and policing.

Celebrating police staff
Monday, 3 March, 2025, marked the start of Police Staff Recognition Week, a UK policing-wide initiative which provides an insight into the significant value delivered by our non-warranted staff, and an important opportunity to recognise their contribution to policing.
Police leaders personally thanked staff across the Service and took time to hear directly from them. As part of this I met with staff in our Motherwell Service Centre and Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors spent time at Bilston Glen and Govan service centres, speaking with service staff and call handlers who are that critical first point of contact for those who need our help. Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs held a series of online calls while other members of the Chief Officer Team spent time with teams in Gartcosh and Edinburgh.
We also highlighted the contribution of staff members through individual case studies which explored roles including service advisors, fleet co-ordinators, Public Enquiry Support Officers and safety camera unit team leaders.

Recruitment
Following the deployment to local policing divisions of 251 probationary constables following their initial training in February, 123 new probationary constables took their oath of office at ceremonies across the country on Thursday, 13 March, maintaining our officer establishment at 16,631. I addressed and thanked officers in Dundee, while Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors oversaw a ceremony at Police Scotland Headquarters, Tulliallan. Following initial training, the probationary constables will deploy to communities across the country in June.
Our police officer recruitment campaign continues with ongoing digital and radio advertising. Since the campaign launched in September 2024, over 2,000 applications have been received, ensuring a strong pipeline of applicants.
A campaign, using the same #AJobLikeNoOther recruitment brand, for vacancies in our Contact, Command and Control (C3) Division has recently concluded and resulted in a substantial 134% increase in applications for our Bilston Glen Service Centre in the East between January and February 2025.

Chief Officer Team
I have refreshed the Deputy Chief Constable responsibilities as follows:
• DCC Jane Connors LVO QPM - Operational Policing - Operational Support; Local Policing East; North and C3; West; Major Crime, Public Protection and Local Crime; Organised Crime, Counter Terrorism and Intelligence; and Criminal Justice.
• DCC Alan Speirs KPM - Professionalism and Enabling Services - Professionalism and Assurance; Policing Together; Corporate Finance; People and Development; Strategy and Analysis.
• DCC Bex Smith - Transformation - Digital, Data: and Transformation.
Following the retirement of Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn and the imminent retirement of ACC Gary Ritchie the Scottish Police Authority appointed Allan Waddell as an ACC. Patrick Brown has been appointed as Acting Director of Strategy and Analysis and this month, we welcomed Brenda McCaffrey as Director of Transformation.