Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east’s top cop praises ‘tremendous’ community response to flooding emergency

Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson.
Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson.

While the merger of the north-east’s two police divisions was always going to have its challenges, the officer charged with heading the region could not have anticipated the “unprecedented” flooding crisis the emergency services would be faced with.

Just a fortnight into the new North East division, its most senior officer, Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson, said there could not have been a bigger test for his officers.

But it was a large-scale operation which he says was made significantly easier thanks to the single division.

At the height of last week’s flooding, every single officer on duty was deployed to deal with the impact of the severe weather, which caused the region’s rivers to burst their banks.

Emergency services were called into action in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray as flood water encroached on homes and businesses, and forced nearly 30 of the region’s roads to be closed at its peak.

Police were responsible for coordinating the emergency services response as the area was devastated by heavy rain and flooding, followed by blizzards and freezing conditions towards the end of last week.

“I think because it’s now one division it actually makes coordinating officers across the north-east more straight forward,” said Mr Thomson.

“What the one division has is the ability to flex resources to where the greatest need is.

“Just prior to New Year the greatest need was in Deeside – and there still is a significant requirement there to support the recovery work – but just now we’ve got officers dealing with the significant weather impact on Donside.

“Over and above that, officers are still doing their day job – officers are still in communities, they’re still working with partners, they’re still detecting crimes, they’re still being a police presence. Collectively, strengthening the divisions has meant we’ve been able to react as and when the force has been required.”

Mr Thomson was at pains to acknowledge the work of every single emergency service and all three local authorities in responding to the devastation caused by the flooding.

And he reserved special praise for the generosity and community spirit shown by local people the length and breadth of the region.

He said: “The partnership working between ourselves, the emergency services, the partner agencies, and the communities themselves has been absolutely excellent.

“There are some of our own officers whose houses have been flooded and they’re back at work, and have been continuing to work throughout this period.

“What I want to emphasise again is this is not just about the police.

“I think some of the work I’ve read about and some that I’ve seen first-hand in relation to individuals, charities and others who have come together to help people at their time of need has been absolutely outstanding.

“But in the north-east we’re used to that support from the public. We’ve got tremendous communities in the north-east who make such a real difference.

“Certainly from a policing perspective, it makes our job an awful lot easier.”

With the clean-up well under way, Mr Thomson said the extent of the recovery operation required cannot be underestimated.

He added: “We need to remember that Braemar is still isolated, we still don’t have road access from the east.

“Let’s remember that the Ballater police office has been destroyed by the flooding, so we’re working on a business continuity plan to deliver policing.

“I think the work, some of it often unseen, is absolutely building the infrastructure that we need to go about our daily business.

“What we’re doing, certainly from a policing perspective, is supporting that work.”