Dundee Live's latest Big Interview is with Tayside's top police officer, Chief Superintendent Phil Davison.
The Division Commander started his new role in July and is responsible for all policing in Tayside Division and its command areas in Perth and Kinross, as well as Dundee and Angus.
He joined the division from Police Scotland’s Local Policing Programme, where he was national lead for co-ordinating and delivering process and cultural change.
He has 22 years policing experience having previously worked in legacy Fife constabulary where he was deployed in a variety of operational roles through the ranks to area commander.
What have been the biggest challenges in policing Dundee in the last 18 months through the covid pandemic?
The past 18 months has been an unprecedented period for everybody and has undoubtedly presented real challenges to Emergency Services for a variety of reasons.
I am proud of how our staff have operated through this challenging period, with undoubted professionalism and courage in continuing to provide the best policing service for our communities, despite the personal impacts.
Our approach throughout the pandemic has been to engage with the public, explain the legislation and encourage compliance with legislation as it applied at the time, but we have used our enforcement powers as a last resort where required.
I want to extend our thanks to the public for their support of our efforts, which has also included responses to public confidence surveys to help inform policing responses.
Prior to Covid-19, policing had been changing with around 80% of policing call demand now being non-criminal in nature and that policing has found itself moving more into the space of working with partners around more public health related issues, protecting and supporting the vulnerable, particularly in terms of mental health. We have been working closely with partners to look at areas for improved service.
This has led to the development and ongoing delivery of a joint improvement plan for mental health service provision, which for example has seen the recent introduction of a pilot with NHS Tayside and the ambulance service for a mental health response vehicle in Dundee to give initial triage and assessment to people in crisis and to ensure the most appropriate support is provided at the earliest opportunity.
The pandemic has presented challenges in continuing to engage with children and young people. During the early stages of pandemic there was regular policing involvement needed with students self-isolating within Dundee student halls across the city where there was significant impact on accessing education, individual vulnerabilities and mental health concerns.
We have worked hard with partners to mitigate some of these challenges by reinvigorating partner relationships in schools now that pupils are consistently back in classes, re-instigating some of the joint educational inputs previously delivered.
With restrictions having eased recently, it has afforded positive interaction and inputs by Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in schools in the north of Dundee regarding the dangers of fire-raising.
What are the major challenges police currently face across the city as restrictions ease? What are you doing to address those challenges?
Like all areas, the easing of restrictions has led to a number of challenges and whilst freedoms are restored there is still the presence of Covid-19 and the risks it presents.
The reopening of the licensed trade is welcome but it has also resulted in a return to pre-pandemic level of policing demands in Dundee and Broughty Ferry, particularly at weekends.
To support our local communities through the easing of restrictions, policing in Dundee have re-instated Dundee Safe with significant resource ring-fenced for highly visible patrols in key areas of the city centre at times of peak demand, such as outside licensed premises and at taxi ranks.
The local police licensing teams have fully engaged with licensees across the city to ensure a safe environment is delivered.
We have also carried out a phase of proactive crime prevention messaging/advice around trends of increasing instances of acquisitive crime being seen in recent months, as the streets have become busier and thefts from insecure vehicles / insecure homes seeing a rise.
In the 2021-22 Quarter 1 Dundee Local Policing Area Scrutiny Report I highlighted that the easing of restrictions has also seen an increase in terms of the harm and concern caused by youth anti-social behaviour, particularly in Broughty Ferry and the north of Dundee City.
This has included dangers associated with the anti-social use of off road bikes which we have been positively tackling with a stakeholders via Operation Challenge.
Have the major changes to the city centre and waterfront changed the way policing is carried out in the city?
The changes introduced so far are undoubtedly very positive for Dundee and the wider areas and these will have long term benefit to residents and visitors to the city alike.
Whilst the changes are positive, it is recognised that there will always be policing challenges and it is important therefore to ensure policing evolves with the improvements to ensure or service best reflects the changing city.
We are engaged in regular discussions on how we can best support the Dundee City Council City Centre Strategic Investment Plan, which is the long term strategy for continuing development of the city centre space
We have aspirations to co-locate with multi-agency partners in the city centre to make the policing team more present and approachable.
We also have plans around increased visibility; re-aligning our historic Police Scotland beat boundaries to better reflect the new “city centre”, the provision of a new City Centre Policing Team which will work closely with partners across all relevant sectors in retail, tourism, the local authority and the night time economy.
How can local residents support police in Dundee?
We are really grateful for the support we already receive from the public in Dundee. Our local officers are very much there to serve the public and are invested in their wellbeing across the board.
On that basis, and that policing by consent is at our core, we would encourage as much interaction from the public as possible, either through direct contact with local officers, engagement through our ‘Your Police Survey’ or in conduit through the variety of community groups that the police are connected into. We will listen and look to the best means of policing response.
Otherwise, we ask local residents to support each other, be vigilant, report any suspicious activity and crucially to help look out for vulnerable members of the community, either direct support where appropriate or in signposting concerns to the police or other agencies.
This is particularly important around support to people with mental health concerns, or addictions where early support to those most vulnerable can make a significant difference.
What are your hopes and aspirations for Dundee in the next five years and for the police who work within the city?
I hope and intend to further strengthen relationships with our partners, and look forward to working with, leading and supporting our officers and staff as we all continue to best serve, listen to and respond to the needs of our local communities.
I recognise that policing is changing, with a greater focus on public safety and policing responsibilities around public health. There unfortunately remains a high level of violent crime in the area which has an associated connection to drug addiction and substance use, as well as underlying social issues linked to this in terms of poverty and mental health.
These issues have an undoubted impact in our local communities, and in the years to come I am fully committed to doing all I can and by working collectively, to support and protect the most vulnerable, reduce criminality, and ultimately help keep people living in Tayside safe.
In terms of the officers and staff that work across Dundee and wider Tayside, I am proud of the high levels of professional service they provide to communities on a daily basis. In the years to come, I will continue to encourage the high levels of innovation and community led policing interventions that take place already in resolving local issues.
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