Staff affected by the closure of the police control room in Aberdeen will get personal attention and support, the head of the force’s governing body has vowed.
Between 32 and 64 staff will no longer be required when call centre functions are transferred to Dundee by December 2015.
Inverness control room will also close, but police said the change is expected to be “job neutral”, with the possibility of an increase in the number of posts when it becomes a major incident and intelligence centre.
Police Scotland has promised that no-one will be made redundant against their will.
Staff will be offered redeployment, early release or early retirement. Police will look at matching staff affected by the control room closures with those who want to leave but cannot until they have a suitable replacement.
Vic Emery, chairman of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), said they would be consulting with employees as they had a “duty of care” to minimise the impact.
“We will do whatever we can to minimise the impact on those people who will need to exit the business but do not want to,” he said.
“There are quite a few who want to leave of their own accord.
“We need to look at the aspirations of the people who will be displaced and treat each one individually.
“I can’t say I have a panacea for every one of them but some might be willing to relocate, some might not be, so we have to deal with that on a case by case basis.”
Michelle Brady, the Aberdeen representative with public sector union Unison, said the lack of available positions means many staff would effectively be made compulsorily redundant.
She said: “There are just not the opportunities.
“I have been monitoring the vacancies that have been coming up with Police Scotland on the internet, and since April 1, the number of vacancies I could count on one hand.”
Mr Emery insisted the move to three control centres will help local policing with the introduction of new computer technology which can easily locate callers and the nearest officers.
He said the public’s concern was with 999 calls being answered and dealt with quickly.