This is an extract from a 23 Jan 2024 letter to EACC Chair, Steve Kerr, written by Superintendent Samantha Ainslie of Edinburgh Division. The letter follows up on a November 2023 meeting and it gives context to, and information on, current community policing arrangements. Do note the website and Facebook links:
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Resonant with your own comments, I also found the meeting helpful, and I wish to acknowledge at the outset that we enjoy the great privilege of policing with and for our local communities, and that I fully appreciate the role and the support provided by Edinburgh’s Community Councils, individually and collectively.
Please be assured I understand that community policing representation at Community Council meetings is very much sought after and valued, however, as variously communicated, as a consequence of City of Edinburgh Council’s revised funding arrangements, circa 1 April 2020, we have been unable to commit to attending the meetings. Notwithstanding which, should community officers be unable to attend, we have given an assurance that officers will provide a locally focused snapshot report / newsletter, with this arrangement being well-established.
Noting your reference to the reports being uniform in nature, whilst serving an analogous purpose i.e., providing news, updates, useful contacts, an outline of local policing activities and our response to localised issues and themes, the content will vary, quite rightly so, informed by the bespoke nature of ‘place’ and reflecting our diverse communities.
That being said, I thought it helpful to include an outline of divisional scrutiny arrangements, and consequently, each newsletter will now provide the following standardised narrative and easily accessible links:
On a quarterly basis, the Divisional Commander attends and provides both a written and verbal report to Edinburgh Council Culture and Communities Committee, during which scrutiny is provided in terms of the Division’s performance against the Local Policing Plan and other ongoing or emerging issues.
Edinburgh Division Scrutiny Reports can be found:
Item 7.1 - Police Scotland Edinburgh City Division Scrutiny Report April 2022 to March 2023.pdf
This meeting is also freely available/accessible to view live or retrospectively.
Our Local Police Plan 2023-26 outlines our local Divisional priorities and is accessible via the Police Scotland website:
Edinburgh - Police Scotland
Members of Edinburgh Division’s Senior Management Team routinely respond to queries received from Elected Representatives, including MPs and MSPs and constituents’ concerns across a broad spectrum of topics.
From a locality perspective, each of the 4 Local Area Commanders chair local Community Improvement Partnerships and also form part of the membership of Locality Community Planning Partnerships. These fora are focused on addressing local concerns in partnership.
Police Scotland’s Quarterly Performance Report for the Scottish Police Authority, and performance statistics by council and Policing Division, can be accessed here.
As a signpost, Edinburgh Division’s performance data can be found on the ‘Data Div6’ tabs.
Recorded and detected crime data at Multi-Member Ward level, Road Traffic Collision (RTC) data (casualties and circumstances), and Stop/Search data can be found via
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/crime-data/
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/road-traffic-collision-data/
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/stop-and-search/data-publication/
This raw data can be filtered to provide more accessible information, however, crime data is only provided on an annual basis.’
Advice and information, across a range of crime prevention themes, are available on our website Advice & Information - Police Scotland , and additionally, our Senior Management Team, and Road Policing colleagues, provide Edinburgh focused commentary within a regular Edinburgh Evening News ‘Capital Cops’ column. Not forgetting the regular local policing updates provided on our social media channels, including our Facebook page https://en-gb.facebook.com/EdinburghPoliceDivision .
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End/KR