Northern Constabulary
The
Northern Constabulary is the police force for
Northern Scotland, covering the
council areas of
Highland,
Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Western Isles), the
Orkney Isles and the
Shetland Isles, which comprise most of the
Highlands and Islands area. It is the police force covering the largest geographical land mass in the
United Kingdom, equivalent to the size of Belgium and has about 715 officers.
[See Justice Support to Local Authories, The Annual Report of the Scottish Executive]The police force was formed on May 16, 1975 and merged a pre-existing Northern Constabulary, the
Ross and Sutherland Constabulary and the
Inverness Burgh and Inverness County Constabularies, along with the northernmost portion of the
Argyll County Police area, and the Nairn part of the
Scottish North East Counties Constabulary. The previous Northern Constabulary had been created in 1969 by the merger of the
Caithness,
Orkney and
Shetland forces.
The new Northern Constabulary was created at the same time as
local government reorganisation created the Highland
regional council and the
islands councils of the Western Isles, the Orkney Isles and the Shetland Isles. The rest of the Argyll County Police were merged into the
Strathclyde Police, and the rest of the Scottish North East Counties Constubulary into the
Grampian Police.
The Northern Constabulary area is also the area covered by the
Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service.
Northern Constabulary, with a relatively low crime rate and a consistently very high detection rate, makes the Highlands & Islands one of the safest places to live work and visit, across the United Kingdom. The force operates in a "Community Policing" style and has done since its creation. Both its officers and support staff see the ethos of decision-making and problem-solving pushed as close to front-line policing as possible, as being fundamental in maintaining strong links with local communities.
In order to help keep decision-making as local as possible, Northern has been at the forefront nationally in Devolved Resource Management (DRM) for many years. The Chief Constable allocates one-line budgets to each of his Area Commanders, closely monitoring progress across a range of indicators, over the year, through regular Performance Review and Performance Review Boards.
See also
External page
*
Official Northern Constabulary website
