National Domestic Abuse Advocates have recently visited the Edinburgh Area Control Room and Service Centre to gain an understanding of the work undertaken by C3 Division.
Detective Superintendent Gordon McCreadie, Police Scotland’s national lead for Domestic Abuse, worked with C3 Division to invite representatives from organisations such as ASSIST, Scottish Women’s Aid – including representatives from the Women’s Aid network such as Shakti and Hemat Gryffe – and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal’s Service (COPFS), to gain an understanding of how our highly trained staff identify victims of domestic abuse and vulnerability.
Their visit followed the journey of a call, from first point of contact in the Service Centre seeing how a call is assessed and graded, before moving on to the ACR to see how an incident is resourced and controlled.
During their tour, they had the opportunity to talk to Service Advisors and Controllers, asking questions and gaining an understanding of how calls are prioritised and allocated, as well as how staff identify vulnerability and risk.
Chief Superintendent Roddy Newbigging, Divisional Commander C3 Division, said: “We were pleased to welcome our partners from domestic abuse support services, giving them an opportunity to understand the sorts of incidents we deal with and how our staff are trained to support those who call us.
“This visit also give us an opportunity to understand the issues and concerns our partners have and allowed us to address them directly.”
Mhairi McGowan from ASSIST, an independent domestic abuse advocacy service said, “Our visit to the Edinburgh Area Control Room and Service Centre was very worthwhile and provided all of us with an opportunity to speak to staff, ask questions and understand the role staff within these facilities play in supporting vulnerable members of our community when they contact the police.
“I’d like to thank Police Scotland for organising the visit and staff within Contact, Command and Control Division for giving their valuable time to facilitate our tour.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
