Lothian and Borders Police

Infobox UK Police
name= Lothian and Borders Police
area= Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Borders
main towns = Edinburgh , Livingston, Bathgate Linlithgow
population= Approx 800,000
size= 6,456 km²
officers= Approx 2,600
title= Chief Constable
head= David Strang
divname= Divisions
divno= 4
start= May 16, 1975
stations= 51
HQ= Fettes, Edinburgh





web= [http://www.lbp.police.uk/ Force web site]

Lothian and Borders Police is the police service for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian. The force's headquarters are in Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh.

Lothian and Borders Police was formed on May 16 1975 by an amalgamation of Berwick, Roxburgh and Selkirk Constabulary, Edinburgh City Police and The Lothians and Peebles Constabulary.

The force has around 2600 officers and 1100 support staff. The Chief Constable is David Strang who replaced Paddy Tomkins on March 29th 2007.

A low point for the force was the Fettesgate scandal in the early 1990s, when confidential documents were stolen from the headquarters building. They have since policed major events like the European summit of December 1992 and the Make Poverty History demonstration in July 2005.

Divisions

The Lothian and Borders Police area stretches from Blackridge in the west to Newcastleton in the south. It is split into four territorial divisions:
*A Division: City of Edinburgh
*E Division: East Lothian, Midlothian
*F Division: West Lothian
*G Division: Scottish Borders

Non territorial divisions provide more specialist roles to the entire force, and provide administration functions, the operation non territorial divisions are:

*X Division: Criminal Investigation Department
*O Division: Specialist Operations
*P Division: Police Officer Training
*U Division: IT Branch

The original divisions were known as 'B Division' which covered the City Centre, along with the South and East of the City. Areas covered by the division were Gayfield, Princes Street, St Leonards, (Edinburgh), and Howdenhall. 'C Division' covered the west of the city, including Edinburgh Airport. It predominantly covered the area to the West of Lothian Road, and included the West End, Corstorphine, Balerno, and Oxgangs.

'D Division' covered the coastal areas of Edinburgh including South Queensferry, Drylaw, Leith, Portobello, and Craigmillar.

A Division

A Division was created in 2002 following the amalgamation of the City of Edinburgh's three previous divisions.

A Division was created to better administer the policing of the City of Edinburgh and its headquarters is St Leonards Police Station.

E Division

E Division covers the area of East Lothian, and Midlothian, and stretches from the Edinburgh City Bypass to Dunbar in the east. The headquarters of E Division is Dalkeith police station.

Police stations in E Division include:

Midlothian:Dalkeith (HQ),Newbattle,Gorebridge,Bonnyrigg,Loanhead,Penicuik.

East Lothian:Musselburgh,Prestonpans,Tranent,Haddington,North Berwick,Dunbar,

F Division

F Division, is situated to the West of Edinburgh and covers from the City boundaries to Fauldhouse in the west. The headquarters is based in Livingston.

The division’s officers are sometimes referred to as “F Troop”, although this is regarded as offensive as “F Troop” was originally a comedy set in the old west of America (first shown September 14, 1965) that followed a group of misfit cavalrymen in the U.S. Army.

G Division

G Division is the largest territorial division in Lothian and Borders Police and covers the Scottish Borders. It is approximately twice the size of all the other divisions combined, and borders England in the South. This is a predominantly rural area featuring rolling country side and isolated population areas. The headquarters is based in Hawick.

X Division

X Division provides investigative support to the entire force. While detectives may be allocated to assist other divisions as their main role as detectives, they can be pooled to provide assistance whether their specialist skills are required.

Also known as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) they are the detectives of the force and investigate major crimes as well as everyday crimes such as housebreaking and robberies.

X Division is predominantly a plain clothes division.

O Division

O Division provides specialist operations support to the force. It is predominantly made up of the Roads Policing Units (traffic) which are based at the headquarters of each division. They also provide specialist Firearms and Public Order (Riot Police) support to all divisions. Also within O Division are the forces Dog Handlers. This division is predominantly uniformed.

O Division also includes The Force Communications Centre (FCC).

U Division

Provides IT support & development to all aspects of the Force:

IT Helpdesk - First point of call for problems with all Force systems (PC, Telephony, Airwave, legacy comms)

Data Comms Department - The folks who come & fix your broken PC's & Printers, install your software in accordance with licensing requirements and generally help you out.

Development - Develop internal systems to assist the Force with its day to day operations

Radio Comms / Airwave - Provide support for legacy radio comms & sites as well as the new digital Airware Radio system used within the Force.

Telephony - All your phone needs

Administration - Without them the Department would not function.

Training

All applicants to the force as with all Scottish Police Forces must attend an initial 15 week basic training course at the Scottish Police College based at Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine on Forth.

This course provides a basic grounding in policing in Scotland.

Following the 15 week course officers are returned to their forces to continue training. After one year in force, officers re-attend the College to complete a further two week course and assessment period. After a further year officers are assessed on their abilities and 'confirmed' in their role should they meet the required standard. Training from initial course to confirmation takes a minimum of two years.

Officers transferring from other Scottish forces are not required to attend the college, unlike those transferring from the rest of the United Kingdom, who are required to attend a shortened course to learn Scottish Law due to legal differences.

ee also

* Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
* Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency
* Scottish Police College
* Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band

External links

* [http://www.lbp.police.uk/ Official website]