The decision to close Cupar Sheriff Court and move services to Dundee from next May will not cause any major operational issues for the police, the area commander for Police Scotland in North-East Fife has said.
In an exclusive interview with The Courier, Chief Inspector Jill Harper said she could understand concerns about access to justice in North-East Fife and logistical issues for witnesses having to attend court.
But with regards to policing, she said: “Operationally, for us, there are no major issues. For some time our custody prisoners have been held in Glenrothes and transported to court. With Police Scotland it means we are much more joined up, it throws up collaboration the Tay Bridge is no longer a barrier and I always find that people cope surprisingly well with change.”
It’s now more than two months since policing was brought back to the centre of Cupar, following the town’s Carslogie Road premises being put on the market.
The new home for the police in Cupar is the refurbished County Buildings at Waterend Road.
Giving The Courier a tour of the new Cupar police station, Chief Inspector Harper said the new building is more convenient for the majority of people living in Cupar and meets the latest standards for access for disabled people, as well as giving officers a modern, bright, fit-for-purpose base to work from.
As the police had discovered in Cowdenbeath where a similar arrangement exists, she said being co-located with other public services means they can provide a more efficient service to residents, who can also access a number of different public services in the same building.
She said: “The new building is much more appropriate for our needs and is considerably easier to maintain and cheaper to run. It’s very energy efficient. Carslogie Road was fine when it was a divisional HQ but the cells and control centres were centralised in Glenrothes some time ago. The Carslogie Road premises were too big to heat, the cells were not needed . . . it really wasn’t fit for purpose.
“Here at the County Buildings, uniform and CID are all working together in a modern open-plan environment and I can easily go and speak to someone from social work or meet up with the Fife Council locality manager Kate Hughes. It’s more convenient for our partnership working and all good for morale.”
Chief Inspector Harper, who has 22 years’ police service, is in charge of response policing, performance management and the daily management of personnel in North-East Fife. She oversees the police station hubs in Cupar and St Andrews, with section stations at Howe of Fife, Tay Coast and East Neuk.
While she said the transition from Fife Constabulary to Police Scotland had brought with it many benefits and challenges, she emphasised it was “business as usual” for the police with community engagement and commitment to community policing still a priority.
She added: “The staff are here to keep the public safe and to provide a quality service. And since we moved to Waterend Road, we’ve had no negative feedback from the public about the move or been told of problems by people trying to find us.”
Gaining access from Waterend Road at the back of the County Buildings, when the public counter is closed, a telephone intercom beside the front entrance will connect visitors to the Area Control Room at Glenrothes, free of charge.
However, Chief Inspector Harper also offered a reminder that non-emergency calls can now be made to the police via 101. She also encouraged the public to follow the force on Twitter via @NorthFifePol.