Last night, at my weekly ward surgery at Blackness Primary School, I had the pleasure of meeting the West End's new Community Police Inspector, Martin Pattie, and discuss some local matters. The introduction of locality-based Inspectors is a good initiative by Police Scotland that I discussed with Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Anderson, at a meeting just before Christmas.
The West End already has an excellent Community Police Sergeant in Elise Wilson and she advised me yesterday about another positive initiative in the West End - regular police community surgeries - to quote Sergeant Wilson :
"We are due to launch a police community surgery next month which will then be held every month thereafter:
Location : Mitchell Street Centre (Room 1)
Time: 1300-1600 hours
Date: 1st Tuesday of every month
(includes 7/2, 7/3, 4/4, 2/5, 6/6, 4/7, 1/8, 5/9, 3/10, 7/11 and 5/12)
Location : Blackness Library
Time: 1300-1600 hours
Date: 2nd Monday of every month
(includes 13/2, 13/3, 10/4, 8/5, 12/6, 10/7, 14/8, 11/9, 9/10, 13/11 and 11/12)
The aim of this will be to engage with the public outwith a police environment which may encourage more people to speak with their local officers in relation to the ongoing issues effecting them directly within their community."
You can read more about our local West End police team here.