North MSP disappointed with Police response to Control Room closure halt calls

24th July 2015

Highlands & Islands (Labour) MSP Rhoda Grant is disappointed with the response from Police Scotland after her calls for the planned closure of the Police and Fire Controls in Inverness to be halted, pending the on going HMI review into the operating functions of the Police Control Rooms. The review was set up after the tragic M9 incident in which Police Scotland handling of how a couple, who had crashed a car on this route near Stirling, were left without help for three days.

John Yuill was found dead inside the blue Renault Clio last week. His girlfriend, Lamara Bell, later died in hospital.

In a statement issued today (23/7/15) Assistant Chief Constable Val Thomson, commander of Police Scotland's C3 Division which is developing the control room reorganisation, said: "We remain committed to the C3 change programme and are in discussion with the Scottish Police Authority (SPA)."

Rhoda Grant said "I think it is unacceptable that the closure plan for Emergency Control Rooms is not put on hold at least until we fully understand what went wrong with the M9 incident. How can the SPA and Senior Officers within Police Scotland, continue with a plan if there are found to be failings in it. I would have thought the common sense and logical approach to these calls would have been to halt the closure plan at least until the outcome of the enquiry is known. The Scottish Government are amazingly quiet on this issue, now is the time for them to step in and demand that the closure plans be halted until such a time as the HMI enquiry is complete".

" I will be writing to the Justice Minister, Michael Matheson today asking him to halt this closure plan".