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Former policeman elected to Highland Council seat

Former policeman elected to Highland Council seat

A former senior police officer who has led a number of high-profile operations in the north has been elected to Highland Council.

Matthew Reiss, who was area commander for Caithness, Sutherland and East Ross, was yesterday announced as the winner of the Landward Caithness by-election, with a 29.9% turnout.

Mr Reiss, who will join the Independent group on the local authority, was one of five candidates who contested the vacancy created by the resignation of SNP member Alex MacLeod.

His election means all four seats in the ward are now held by Independents. The other councillors are David Bremner, Willie Mackay and Gillian Coghill.

Mr Reiss, who lives at Hill of Forss, near Thurso, with his wife Alison and two daughters, yesterday said he believed his police work provided a good background for his new role.

He said: “It has given me an overall knowledge and experience of the problems of the county, coupled with the knowledge that there are so many good Samaritans here, who are willing to look out for older people and youngsters.

“It will be a huge privilege and I am incredibly proud to be representing Landward Caithness on the council,” he added.

Mr Reiss joined Northern Constabulary in October 1985 as a constable in Wick, before serving in Benbecula, Aviemore and Inverness.

He then had a second spell in Caithness as a sergeant in Thurso before he was promoted to the rank of inspector. In 2005, he transferred to an Inverness-based post as Highland Council’s police liaison officer.

He then became inspector at Alness in 2008 and was promoted to a Wick-based chief inspector role in November 2009 – a post he held until his retirement in August.

During his service with the northern force, he headed up the police response to a serious crash at Strathnaver in Sutherland involving a coach carrying 45 elderly Australian tourists in 2003.

Mr Reiss also led an operation involving the Ascania tanker off the Caithness coast in March 1999. Every home in Dunnett and Scarfskerry was evacuated amid fears of an explosion.

The by-election was held under the single transferable vote system and Mr Reiss gained 1,150 of 2,588 valid first preference votes.

The other candidates were the SNP’s Ed Boyter, Conservative Kerensa Karr and independents Tina Irving and Winifred Sutherland.