Tayside’s first female divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Nicola Russell, is already officially one month into her new role.
Nicola, 43, is from the local area and has more than 20 years of policing experience.
She currently co-chairs the LGBTQI+allies network for Scotland.
And in her spare time plays ice hockey for Caledonia Steel Queens.
She is getting ready to set out her vision for policing in the region after being unveiled to the media.
Since joining the force in 2004 Ch Supt Russell has taken on many different roles to protect and serve the public.
Nicola said the opportunity to take on the top job locally was an “incredibly proud moment”.
Serving her first eight years in Surrey she concluded her time down south as a sergeant in the serious organised crime unit.
Her career began to diversify when she returned home to Tayside and covered several local patches.
Service at Pitlochry, Blairgowrie, Perth and Dundee
She said: “I transferred back to legacy Tayside back in 2012.
“I’m local to the area so it was great to be coming back home to see friends and family.
“When Police Scotland was established in 2013 I was serving as a sergeant in Pitlochry before transferring to Blairgowrie.
“I then went on to become an inspector in Perth and undertook the role of duty response officer for two years covering Perth and Kinross.”
After taking on the deputy commander role Nicola moved into doing project work for the division.
It was in 2017 that she became the Dundee Area Commander, a job she undertook for two years.
She added: “That was a fantastic job, I moved onto work for the the professional standards in 2019.
“During the pandemic I moved back in local policing work to help with the response to Covid-19.”
After being promoted to superintendent she was posted again in Tayside as the partnership superintendent.
The opportunities that became available to officers when the force went national has been “fantastic”, Nicola said.
Australia secondment added to knowledge
She added: “I’ve always been keen to increase my skills and knowledge.
“Having a national police force has given myself and other officers a fantastic opportunity to do that.
“I applied and was successful in undertaking a secondment to the Australian Federal Police in March 2022.
“I worked there for four months, working with global partners and a number of different agencies.”
Upon returning to Police Scotland she took on the head role at Police Scotland’s International Academy.
She led several different projects, working with the Scottish Government and the Global Policing Exchange (GPX) Leadership Programme.
Nicola became a temporary commander in the criminal justice division in October 2023, spending six months there.
‘Unbelievably proud’ to be first female divisional commander
She added: “In April I was told I was coming to Tayside to be divisional commander.
“I was successful in the promotion process at the end of last month, so I’m now here permanently as divisional commander.
“To now be sitting here as the first female divisional commander is an unbelievably proud moment for me.
“Tayside is full of fantastic police officers and staff, which recruits so many people from diverse backgrounds.”
Conversation