The north-east’s new police chief has set out cybercrime, anti-social behaviour and “hidden harms” as key areas of focus in an exclusive interview as she steps into the top cop role.
Chief Superintendent Kate Stephen – the first ever woman to take the region’s top job – spoke exclusively to the Press and Journal in her first media interview since stepping into the position.
Ch Supt Stephen outlined areas of focus, including online criminality and the challenges that come with tackling it, as well as anti-social behaviour, and helping vulnerable people.
She said: “I would love to wave a magic wand and rid our streets of crime but actually it’s evolving now.”
The divisional commander, who replaced Ch Supt George MacDonald, spoke about “seeing an increase” in computer crime targeting local residents.
“There are some more emerging threats coming online such as crimes of fraud and cyber-enabled type of crime,” she said.
Prevent crime, identify criminals
Speaking about tackling the issue, she explained: “It’s a really challenging one for us to prevent and investigate and achieve success in terms of identifying perpetrators.
“Quite often these crimes are committed by people who aren’t from the local area.”
The senior officer added: “It makes it really challenging for us to clear those types of crimes and give victims an assurance that they’ll get justice.”
On other local policing issues, the Ch Supt said: “We’ve experienced some real challenges around anti-social behaviour in Ellon and equally in Aberdeen city centre.
“Young people congregating, causing a nuisance or a disturbance.”
Absolute depth of despair and crisis
Alongside the demands of policing a “huge road network”, and tackling urban and rural challenges, the north-east force is also on the frontline of “real societal issues”.
The divisional commander said: “The police are quite often the service that’s called upon to respond when people are at their absolute depth of despair and crisis by either being a victim of a crime or just in that moment of desperation through their mental health challenges.”
And she warned of “hidden harms” targeting the “vulnerabilities” of people suffering in silence behind closed doors, which she said was a “hangover from Covid” lockdowns.
Ch Supt Stephen also used the exclusive interview to praise the calibre of her team.
Police Scotland recently held its Excellence and Bravery Awards which recognised some of the officers serving north-east communities.
They included:
- Police Officer of the Year – Elgin Police Constable Jamie Dey: “For the contribution he made to communities and breaking down barriers with young people.”
- Probationary Constable of the Year – Aberdeenshire Police Constable Eilidh McCabe: “Who was one of the first officers at the scene of the horrific derailment near Stonehaven.”
- Special Constable of the Year – Special Constable Stephen Booth
The Chief Superintendent commented: “In the whole of Scotland we received those three awards by officers who are serving communities here in the north-east.
“It demonstrates the real commitment, determination and drive of the excellent people we have.”
She added: “We deal with horrendous incidents. We deal with horrific crime and seeing the devastation that things like those leave in their wake.”
