Police control rooms in Aberdeen and Inverness will close – and staff could be forced out of their jobs.
Members of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board rubber-stamped plans to halve the number of control rooms across the country from 10 to five.
A decision not to consult the public on the grounds the issues were too complex was dismissed last night as “simply a disgrace” amid claims the police were afraid of the response they might get.
At the end of yesterday’s three-hour meeting in Glasgow, one north-east union official – visibly upset at the plans – said she was “gobsmacked” by the lack of debate.
More than 200 jobs are now under threat from the plans to close control across Scotland, including up to 64 in Aberdeen and Inverness. The Granite City’s functions are due to be transferred to Dundee by December 2015.
While Inverness will lose its control room, it will become a hub for co-ordinating the response to major incidents and providing intelligence support to frontline officers.
SPA chairman, Vic Emery, congratulated Police Scotland for “quite a thorough piece of work” on the proposed changes.
“We have formed one police force for Scotland and we need to be able to enact that and perform as a single force, not simply in name only. To enable that we need the very best technology,” he said.
During a presentation to the meeting, Assistant Chief Constable Mike McCormick told board members they had been given a “flavour” of the complexity of the proposals.
“For members of the public to come to an informed opinion would be quite challenging,” he said.
He said the changes were about improving the service to the public. While he understood the desire to protect local jobs, a “consultation about that would not be meaningful”, he claimed.
North-east Labour MSPs reacted furiously.
Lewis Macdonald said: “The public should have their say. Consultation is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
“To say the people have no rights is simply a disgrace and something for which those responsible should be ashamed.”
Richard Baker said: “Police Scotland are saying the public are too stupid to give a view.”
A small group from the public service union Unison demonstrated outside the Trades Hall, Glasgow.
At the end of the meeting Aberdeen official Michelle Brady was visibly upset at the decision to go ahead with the closures.
“I am absolutely gobsmacked. There was just no debate,” she said.
While there is a commitment of no redundancies, she said there would be little opportunity for staff to redeploy elsewhere.