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OLYMPIC TORCH IN TAYSIDE
12
JUL
T A Y S I D E
After months of careful planning, the Olympic Torch finally arrived in Tayside on Tuesday 12 June 2012. Officers across the Force were on hand to ensure the safe passage of the torch as it travelled through villages and towns in Angus and the Mearns, Perth and Kinross before ending the day in Dundee where an evening of celebration was enjoyed by over 20,000 people in Baxter Park. Lots of people took to Tayside Police’s Facebook and Twitter to give positive feedback regarding policing of the event. Here’s a snapshot of what they had to say; Just wanted to thank all the officers who have been at the torch relay, and the lovely one who called me madam (made me feel like my mum!) Michelle Mackenzie, Dundee. Well Done TP you’s worked hard tonight at baxters :) Corrina Charles, Dundee. The officers on duty today on there motorbikes were fab, the highlight to the Olympic torch in Forfar for my 3 year old was high fiving them every time they went past. Gail Longmuir, Forfar. Wendy Fallows Totally agree Gail, they were really great :-) Wendy Fallows, Forfar. I live in city centre and was expecting mayhem as I finish work in Fintry at 6pm. Just wanted to say well done to Tayside Police for a very well run operation! Stopped on West Marketgait for about 7 mins but got excellent view of relay passing right in front of me. Kirsten Doig, Dundee. I was delighted to see approx 10,000 people in the town centre tonight and spoke to quite a few police officers they added to a very happy evening. Many thanks TP. Christina Roberts, Dundee.
IN THIS ISSUE:
MY EVEREST TRIP BY ANDY ALLAN • ACPOS PRESIDENT MAKES POLICE REFORM VISIT TO TAYSIDE • T IN THE PARK 2012 • WHAT WILL YOU LEARN TODAY? • COPS FIREWALK CHALLENGE
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This month the Copperplate team caught up with retired Detective Chief Inspector Andy Allan who has recently returned from an 18 day trek to Everest base camp. Here he shares his story of his trip of a lifetime... My Everest Trip By Andy Allan, Retired Detective Chief Inspector I always had great plans for my retirement and, over the years since retiring in 2003, have accomplished most things I had set my mind on. However, there was always a niggle that I wanted to do just a little more hillwalking or even a little climbing. For the past three years I’ve been to Austria where I managed to get a little higher than Scottish Munro level, and even managed some rock climbing, but there was still something missing so this year I decided I would go to the Himalayas and really gain some height. I decided on an 18 day trek to Everest base camp which, along with a minor peak, would take me to well over 18000 feet. Along with my youngest daughter Kerri and her husband Brian, we set off from Glasgow to fly via London and Delhi to Kathmandu in Nepal from where the real adventure would start. Following a couple of nights in the Nepalese capital we boarded a small 16 seater aircraft to fly just over a hundred miles to the mountain airport of Lukla. I was seated directly behind the two pilots and was more than a little surprised to see a small satnav unit sitting on their dashboard! We landed safely on the uphill 350 metre long runway and the trek to base camp started after a cup of tea at a local tea house. Starting off at over 9000 feet the weather was crystal clear. It was warm with the sun shining and our party of 16, under the charge of our leader, Sherpa Pasang, his three assistants, a porter and a yak driver with his four yaks, set off walking towards our first night in a Himalayan tea house. I should say at this stage all our overnights were in these small basic establishments where the twin rooms were about eight feet square, unheated but at least they had a bed, the food was pretty good as well. Over the next five days we were climbing constantly with the summit of Everest visible for most of this time eventually arriving at the village of Dingboche, sitting at almost 15000 feet. A number of the party were starting to feel the effects of the altitude although I was pretty lucky with just the odd sore head and not much of an appetite. Others suffered dizzy spells, sickness, lack of appetite and were unable to sleep. There was an acclimatisation climb from this village to Nangkertshang Peak at 16800 feet where the views of the surrounding mountains including Makalu, Lhotse and the fabulous Ama Dablam were incredible. From Dingboche, another two days took us to Gorak Shep, which was basically a single building but the closest habitation to Everest base camp. Another three hours walking alongside the Khumbu glacier then onto the glacier itself and we were there, the place I had always wanted to see, pretty desolate yet absolutely stunning at the same time. All 16 of us made it although there were only sherpas in residence putting up the fixed ropes for the climbers who will make their attempts to climb Everest. Making our way back to Gorak Shep, where we were to spend the night, it started to snow pretty heavily increasing to blizzard conditions. Although the temperature dropped considerably every afternoon and then
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more as night fell this place was just freezing. Each night about 8.30pm we would put a nalgenee bottle with boiling water in it into our sleeping bags, this served a double purpose in that it heated your sleeping bag and secondly you could drink the water after it cooled. At Gorak Shep I wakened about 12.30am and having put the bottle at the side of my bed earlier in the evening I made to have a drink only to find the water had frozen in the space of about 4 hours and this was in my bedroom! The following morning we should have climbed to the nearby peak of Kala Patar at well over 18000 feet however the snow the previous day prevented us going up the final narrow ridge so we had to be satisfied going up to just under 18200 feet. However, the weather again was crystal clear with all the major summits, including Everest, looking great. The descent from this area was pretty rapid with a nine hour walk down to the village of Pheriche passing an area known as Chukpo Lari where simple yet pretty poignant memorials illustrate just how many people have died on Everest, there are literally hundreds of small cairn memorials along with some larger ones to both individuals and groups. Another three days walking and we were back in Lukla where we spent the night in a room with a shower, the first such room since leaving Kathmandu, then back to Kathmandu the following g morning and a great night out. This was the trip of a lifetime. Was it hard going? Of course it was with an oxygen level just half of what we have here and steep climbs day after day. Do you need a head for heights? Yes, with some of the trails edging towards ravine drops of about 1000 feet. Would I do it again? Definitely, although I would like to try a different route with a slightly longer trek, perhaps going for a higher peak. Anyone thinking about a trip like this don’t think too long, just do it! And if you’re looking for any tips just get in touch.
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ACPOS PRESIDENT MAKES POLICE REFORM VISIT TO TAYSIDE ACPOS President Kevin Smith visited Tayside Police HQ on Wednesday June 20 to brief 40 key staff on police reform. Mr Smith’s visit formed part of an engagement programme with the police service as the reform programme moves forward. Chief Constable Curran opened the session and said rather than change being difficult for people to deal with the real issue to manage, as individuals and as leaders / managers in an organisation, was uncertainty. She said the focus of Tayside Police was on continuing to deliver for the people of Dundee, Perthshire and Angus, adding, “We can only do that if we take our people with us.” Mr Smith said Tayside Police was fully involved in the reform programme and shaping the future of policing in Scotland through the involvement of key individuals including the Chief Constable, DCC Gordon Scobbie, Doug Cross, Wilma Canning, Chief Supt Roddy Ross and Supt David Tonks. He said the Police Service of Scotland was being shaped by every force and organisation with the objectives being to enhance local policing, increase access to specialist services across the country, engage with communities and to achieve savings. He said this would not happen just because of the introduction of new legislation alone but would require leadership and commitment. He said there were huge opportunities for Tayside Police through reform and the force could bring many of its key strengths to a single service. Mr Smith said there were a number of significant challenges – the biggest being achieving the financial savings required set against the commitments by Government to maintain police numbers, no use of compulsory redundancy, following a dispersed model for services and limitations on outsourcing. The ACPOS president said the savings required were the financial equivalent to 2000 staff jobs and that everything possible was being done to seek the savings from elsewhere across the service to minimise the impact on people. However he said the financial challenge was such that it was inevitable that the service would need to move forward with fewer people working for the Police Service of Scotland. He said it would be the third quarter of 2013 before savings from any redundancy process would start to be realised due to the timeframes involved in meaningful consultation with unions, individuals according to the legal process. He said the service and every existing force was performing strongly and one of the key aims of reform was to provide stability which would in itself provide a platform for reform. He said a number of developments, fitting the objectives of reform, would signal the service is reforming: • Plans to introduce a single non-emergency number, making it easier for the public to contact the police locally
• Plans to introduce a Specialist Crime Directorate, ensuring the best access to specialist skills and services • Local policing would remain fundamentally unchanged – providing a platform of strong performance for the new service • There would be no rationalisation of contact centres / ops rooms for Day 1 with the intention to retain the current infrastructure. Mr Smith said planning around the blueprint for the new service was progressing well and that significant milestones in the coming months would see the appointment of the new Chief Constable and the creation of the Scottish Police Authority. However, he said the issue surrounding the people who work in the service remained the single biggest issue and how the transition is handled – with dignity, respect and professionalism – would reflect on the new organisation. Following questions and answers, Reform Change Manager Alison Campbell and Wilma Canning, of Tayside Police, led a session on leadership and management skills through change. Questions asked included; Q. Tayside in the north or east? A. Work has developed across the programme and clear and compelling body of evidence to locate Tayside in the north territorial policing area. He stressed this was not the creation of three semiautonomous forces – it will be a single national service delivered locally. Q. Public protection – local or national (within SCD)? A. Public Protection needs a local response; it’s built around partnerships and local investigation. Crime is developing its proposals around the Specialist Crime Directorate and its role in Public Protection which will be around policy, strategy and a corporate approach to a high risk area. Q. Are you concerned about changes within existing forces and how that fits with reform? A. No concerns re Tayside or elsewhere. Forces are performing well. What’s happening in Tayside re structural changes fits well with reform, as it does elsewhere. Local commands do not exist in isolation from the bigger organisation. We can meet the provisions of the Bill re local commanders and keep what is in place (1 identified local commander covering more than 1 local authority area i.e. 1 x Chief Supt supported by 3 x Supts/Chief Insps). One size will not fit all – the profile of Glasgow is different to the profile of Clackmannanshire, for example. Q. Business change – lessons learned from elsewhere including SPSA? A. Yes, we are benchmarking, learning lessons from previous change programme, work closely with the SPSA and have key people involved.
Q. Where do staff in services like staff development, HR, finance etc fit in? What will staff structures look like? A. There will be national directorates but not necessarily everyone in one place. Full consultation will take place before a model is agreed and put in place. The Scottish Government has said we need to follow a dispersed model and recognise the appetite for information. Human Resource issues are complex and we need to bring forward a coherent plan with which we can engage with the unions. Q. Will there be a resource allocation model? A. We need that to ensure we are resourcing intelligently. Q. From an Ops Room perspective, are we looking at things we do not have a legal requirement to do? (example given was Mountain Rescue). A. There would be a grave danger from a perspective of public confidence that the Police Service of Scotland comes into being and the police are now stopping things, like mountain rescue. As a service we are not good at stopping doing things. Mr Smith recognised that this function in particular was carried out in different ways across the forces – some forces have mountain rescue resources and others coordinate. Q. Is there a risk that the new chief will come and unpick all of the good work done in Tayside? A. Whoever the new chief is will bring their own style and ethos about policing and will want to continue the good work in Tayside and elsewhere in Scotland. Along with the new command team, they will want to help shape the vision and values. However, whoever is the new chief is the temporary custodian of Scottish policing and the service is shaped by everyone who works in it. Q. What will the role of HMIC and Audit Scotland be? A. There is a recognition that the landscape needs to be de-cluttered but that needs to be firmed up. Q. Will Constables in the promotion pool be overlooked as we enter single service? A. The service will still need sergeants the length and breadth of the country. There is no reason why the new service will be a block to promotion. I am confident the concern that people will have to travel the length and breadth of the country on promotion will be unfounded. For further information on police reform please visit the dedicated Intranet site accessible from Tayside Police’s Intranet.
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T IN THE PARK 2012
T in the Park 2012 enjoyed a fantastic finale, topping a full weekend of music from some of the biggest bands on the globe, playing to the best audience in the world. Rain and shine, record numbers of 85,000 people per day partied over three days to the sound of 200 acts including the Stone Roses, Kasabian, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Nicki Minaj, Swedish House Mafia, Tinie Tempah, New Order, Professor Green and many more. But the real stars were the fans, who organisers and emergency services praised unanimously as being well behaved and in excellent form all weekend. Geoff Ellis, Festival Director, said, “This year, we had an extremely diverse line-up and there’s been something for everyone – pop, hip-hop, rock, indie, even classical – which has gone down brilliantly. A personal highlight for me has to be seeing the legendary Stone Roses leading the crowd in a mass singalong of their seminal hits.” “The weather brought us some challenges this weekend, but our strong contingency planning and the dedication and hard work of our team and all of our partner agencies ensured that we could still deliver another excellent event. I’d also like to thank the fans for their good humour and their positive attitude - the reason that T in the Park is
the favourite festival to play for so many bands is because of the unbelievable welcome that they always get from our audience.” In all Tayside Police made 30 arrests during the festival and recorded 271 incidents, 208 of those being misuse of drugs offences. Overall, nine out of every ten offences that were reported to the police or identified by officers were detected. Crimes such as theft and possession of offensive weapons were reported to be low. Event Commander, Superintendent Rick Dunkerley, said, “It has been another outstanding weekend and, while crimes are up on last year, this is due to the proactive work of our police officers and the stewards working alongside them in engaging with those attending the event, particularly at the point of entrance, which has led to the identification of certain incidents – notably drugs offences. “Those arrested are a very small minority – the overwhelming majority of people have come to Balado to have a great time and there is little doubt they have succeeded. The weather presented us with some challenges, but I believe that the determination and positive outlook of the organisers, all the agencies, our police officers and, most importantly, the festival-goers has delivered another terrific T in the Park. “We prepare, plan and ensure we have all contingencies for whatever challenges come our way. That has guaranteed another successful event, but it is the 85,000 people who came to Balado to party who ensured the occasion was fully realised.”
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN TODAY?
An innovative scheme to ‘Make Every Day a Training Day’ will be launched by Tayside Police on Monday 16 July. Officers and police staff in specific roles will shortly see ‘Everyday Training Pop-ups’ appear on FOCUS. The Pop-ups will appear via the briefing application and will cover different policing topics taken from a combination of experience from high risk, low frequency events, aide memoirs, probationary training notes and learning points from complaints about the police. Superintendent Athol Aitken, a member of the project team, explained, “The concept is that the short daily inputs are designed to integrate and directly link with our policies and guidance but are presented in a quick and easy format. They are designed to remind officers and police staff of the practical application of our procedures or law. “We sometimes think that training is what
happens in a formal setting, away from all distractions. Whilst those training environments have their place, this concept highlights that every day is a training day. “Often the best learning environments are simply sitting down with colleagues and sharing skills and knowledge by talking about our responses to any given incident. This ‘Everyday Training’ approach provides some structure and corporacy to this ad-hoc practice to assist staff by reminding everyone of the key points related to a range of important topics. “Learning is a discipline, and the more we do it, the more second nature it becomes. Officers who are well trained and knowledgeable will not only have increased confidence in dealing with incidents but in turn enhance the service provided to the public.’’ The ‘Everyday Training Pop-ups’ will be complemented with the introduction of ‘Everyday
The onsite medical team has had 810 people visit the hospital tent, 2148 present at first aid and 33 people have been taken to hospital offsite. Says Bob MacGregor, Onsite Medical Services, “Our team has attended to a lot of people this weekend but the overwhelming majority have been folk who want to come in and warm up, or who have minor ailments or pre-existing conditions. “Again, we’d like to emphasise the community spirit and positive attitude at T in the Park this year. People came prepared for the weather and morale was really high. It’s been great to see the audience looking out for themselves and others.” Here’s a snap shot of what our social media followers have said; Big thanks to @TaysidePolice security, medical staff who did an amazing job at #TITP12. Genuinely felt like such a safe place. So friendly! @TaysidePolice wanted to thank you again for a great job yesterday, we were performing at the festival and the only help we got was from you Regardless of the incompetence of @tinthepark staff, @taysidepolice are doing an awesome job and have been all day A big thank you to PC Kevin Heafey and his 2 colleagues for going out of their way to help this morning when I was stranded at TITP. I am extremely grateful and very glad to be home safe and sound. Thanks again guys! :) It was fantastic, everyone I saw/talked to were nice and in good spirits. Didn’t see any trouble at all.
Training Scenarios’ where section Sergeants will host informal learning sessions with their teams. Chief Inspector Gordon Milne has developed a number of ‘Everyday Training Scenarios’ that present specific policing challenges. Shifts will be encouraged to spend a few minutes during daily briefings discussing their response to these scenarios. This approach will be piloted by one team from each Local Policing Area with a view to rolling it out across the Force in due course. Superintendent Aitken added, “The Everyday Training Pop-ups and Scenarios have been developed to make every day a training day for officers and police staff. The format of both elements has been designed to be quick and easy to absorb and has the potential to better equip and protect all staff to improve our service to the communities of Tayside.”
COPS FIREWALK CHALLENGE E Would you ever walk over hot coals for Care of Police Survivors (COPS)? ? COPS is a UK registered charity dedicated to helping the familiees of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty, rebuild their lives. It aims to ensure that survivors have all the help they need to cope with such a tragedy, and that they remaiin part of the police family. If you would like to help raise money for COPS this is your chance to turn up the heat and join a unique and inspiring event - A night to remember, supporting COPS in memory of fallen officers. A special Firewalk will take place at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan on Tuesday 4 September from 5.30pm. It’s £15 to enter and as much sponsorship as you can raise se for COPS. For further information please contact; georgine.whigham@ukcops.org / stuart.holmes@spsa.pnn.police.uk
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