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Save our call centres: Keep 999 local

596 Comments

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Norman Logie
10 years ago

A disasterous decision, no thought to the protection of life and property or what is in the best interests of the public in rural areas.

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Ally Pope
10 years ago

This need to be kept open , local knowledge is key , as I found out the other week , someone in the central belt would not know this area and direct police to the exact location

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Grace
10 years ago

The Highlands and Islands need to have calls dealt with at local level because of the peculiarities of the area, people's life's will be lost, will they listen then.

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Anonymous
10 years ago

It,s absolutely essential that Inverness and Aberdeen control rooms be kept open and under local control. Public safety would be seriously compromised if they were to be closed.

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Fiona McFarlane
10 years ago

Served 30yrs with Northern Constabulary last years in Force control room- I know this is closure is another backward step and will cause problems and no doubt heartache and grief to both public and police.

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Allan Tubb
10 years ago

Highland has the landmass of Begium; would that country even consider only having one call centre? The differences in local knowledge between Caithness and Inverness or Lochaber and Inverness, but doubt if much priority will be given to the North of Scotland down there in the Central Belt. Why not go the whole hog and move it to Mumbai? Local knowledge is the essential key to providing efficient and accessible services - also it keeps jobs local, so badly needed in rural areas.

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Bryce McPherson
10 years ago

local knowledge is key.

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Norman McPherson
10 years ago

A recipe for disaster considering the diverse dialects throughout Scotland which cannot be readily understood by people in the central belt. Local knowledge should not be compromised for the sake of centralisation and economic benefits are no substitute for the consequent risks involved.

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Norman McPherson
10 years ago

Intention to close call centre in Aberdeen is both short sighted and creates an unacceptable source of error in calls being transferred before any action can take place. With strong local dialects prevalent centralisation cannot be worth the risk on peoples lives.

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Anonymous
10 years ago

Unfortunately had to call emergency services last night. Lack of local knowledge potentially cost valuable time, not to mention increasing my stress levels. Any local operator would have instantly known my location - main road, busy suburb, identifiable landmark. Very unsatisfied.

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Lorna McHattie
10 years ago

Call handling must be more effective when a responder understands the dialect and places in an emergency call. Centralise some of the strategy for the police service but not this life saving local part of emergency services. Does someone in Glasgow know how we pronounce Garioch?

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Anonymous
10 years ago

Local accidents/incidents need local knowledge. In an emergency you want to talk someone who is knowledgeable about your area and results in a calming influence in an emergency situation.

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Katrina Elder
10 years ago

Computers and map programmes are no substitute for knowledge and experience.

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Christa MacDonald
10 years ago

How is a call centre in Dunfermline meant to know anything about Inverness, Kyle, Duirunish.etc. Closing local call centres is dangerous!!

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Jean Gardner
10 years ago

Too important to move. This is used by the majority of people in an EMERGENCY and they need swift and appropriate help

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Mike
10 years ago

Why move call centres to an area with little or no understanding of the region?

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Doug Geddes
10 years ago

We need de-centralised

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Donnie smith
10 years ago

Shocking that this is Brit done

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Anonymous
10 years ago

Save our control room which will save lives

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David Dawson
10 years ago

Local knowledge is essential. Many placenames throughout the Highlands and Islands on Ordnance Survey maps are often accorded a local title. What about a garbled emergency call from a person in distress in Sandwick; would that be Sandwick (Lewis), Sandwick (Shetland) or Sandwick (Orkney)? When 999 calls were routed to local police stations in these respective areas there could be no doubt as to where the caller was. If the Scottish Government are so committed (as they claim) to empowering local communities then perhaps they should put their money where their mouth is!