Policing a new year like no other in Edinburgh - Chief Superintendent Sean Scott

In policing terms, January normally affords us a natural break in the City’s unique events calendar, allowing us to review our response to many sporting, music and cultural events and of course Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations.

However, this year we’ve had to adapt and develop different approaches as we continue to focus on the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities as we all try to combat this pandemic. We worked closely with our partners and the communities to encourage compliance with government guidelines in order to ensure those services which could operate during the festive period were able to do so but, frankly, Christmas and particularly Hogmanay were like no other we have experienced.

The move to level 4 restrictions shortly beforehand meant that the impacts on policing really were unknown so we still prepared ourselves for any eventuality by dedicating additional officers to the city centre to help deliver the best possible service and support the policing of Covid regulations.

I have to say, being out on the ground into the wee small hours, I’ve never seen Edinburgh city centre so quiet which, whilst a surreal experience, was evidence of the tremendous discipline and social responsibility shown by the Edinburgh public and my sincere thanks to you all for that. My next plea is for that fantastic standard to remain over the next few weeks.

I also think this is an appropriate time to thank my own officers and staff.

Last year was an exceptional period for policing where we had to quickly adapt to the changing requirements of Covid legislation at a time when many had their own concerns for family and friends who may become affected by the virus.

Our officers have behaved extremely professionally throughout and did well to strike the balance of policing new regulations in a way which was designed primarily to educate the public and encourage responsible behaviour.

Again over the festive period many officers and staff were working throughout to attend calls and keep people safe. A good example of this was a significant missing person enquiry in the city, where many officers from a variety of divisional and Police Scotland national support teams worked tirelessly over a number of weeks to carry out detailed searches and wider enquiry, reassuring the family that we were doing everything we could to find their loved one.

Tracing vulnerable missing people is a key part of policing which often involves painstaking work. Thankfully, in the majority of instances we trace people unharmed but once again this year, our officers have dealt with a number of suicides during Christmas and the New Year.

Officers and staff dealing with such cases ensure that families are supported with a high degree of compassion and I frequently receive letters of thanks from the families affected regarding the support they received from officers in such harrowing circumstances. Often this work goes unreported, however, I know that it is a key element of how officers feel about their work, that they can make a difference and demonstrate the very best of policing.

Chief Superintendent Sean Scott is the Divisional Commander for Edinburgh