| |||
Full Steam
Ahead For Scottish Rail Reps
Yesterday
saw the official launch of the Scottish Rail Reps scheme - a ground
breaking multi-agency initiative which sees pupils educate their fellow
school pupils about the dangers that can be posed by the railway.
Initially
16 schools from across Each school
nominates a minimum of two pupils from, P6 and P7 as the ‘Rail
Reps’, who plan, develop and deliver a railway safety programme
which highlights safety issues to the rest of the school. Activities
include peer driven assemblies, competitions, class initiatives and
updating the Rail Reps notice board. Each school will have the support of
a designated mentor from BTP or Network Rail.
Constable
Frazer Robertson said: “We see the
Rail Reps scheme as an ideal way of raising school pupils’ awareness of
railway safety and the consequences their actions can have for themselves
and others and are grateful for the support of all the partners involved
in the scheme. We are sure the scheme will have a positive influence on
the reps and their fellow pupils.” SEMSA
Annual Games 2009
The
Scottish Ethnic Minority Sports Association (SEMSA) is holding a 5k and
10k Fun Run on Sunday 1 March 2009 at Lochinch, For further
information contact [email protected]. Sheriff: “You’re Just a
Thug.”
Robert
George Murray from Dumbarton pled guilty on Wednesday 28th
January 2009 to assault to severe injury, after he stamped on the head of
his victim on board a train at Singer station in August last year.
Sentencing
him to three years and six months in prison for his crime, Sheriff Simon
Fraser said: “I’m not going to waste words on you. You have an appalling
record and now you try and stamp someone’s brains out. You’re just a thug
and you’re going to be treated like a thug.” Do you have
a case for Crimestoppers? The
crime-solving charity which helps to catch criminals and clear up crimes
will launch a prime-time television show in April and is looking for cases
to solve. On average,
6,205 people are arrested and charged each year as a result of information
given to Crimestoppers, and 25% of cases
featured on Crimestoppers’ Most Wanted are cleared up.
The
television series launches on Monday 20 April at 7.30pm and there will be 30
half hour programmes over six weeks. The programme makers are looking for
cases to feature, such as:
If you have
a case you would like featured, contact your Area Media and Marketing
Manager or email [email protected].
PMAS
Update
PMAS has
completely refreshed its website making it easier for members to do
business with the society. They have also seen a 19% increase in the
number of visitors to the website and a 65% increase un online sales.
James Henderson of PMAS, said: “I was pleased that the news business
campaign performed so well considering the economic
climate.” Switch
On Vehicle Radios For Enhanced Policing Response Officers
are reminded that if they are using a force vehicle fitted with a radio,
the radio must be switched on at all times, regardless of whether officers
continue to use their personal radios to take
calls. This
enables the Automatic Vehicle Location System to function via a GPS signal
transmitted to Command and Control, and allows control rooms to locate the
nearest available mobile resource to an incident and deploy accordingly.
Chief
Superintendent Martyn Ripley said: “This simple action may seem
insignificant; however, being able to track our vehicles can in fact help
us to provide an enhanced policing response, by enabling us to deploy the
best-placed resources to an incident to improve the service we deliver to
the industry and passengers.” The radios
must be switched off again at the end of the patrol to avoid draining the
vehicle’s battery. Airwave
Update
All
officers officially began updating their operational status using their
Airwave radios on Sunday, 1 February, the national start date for the
updates. The updates
allow the control rooms to deploy the best-placed officers and teams to an
incident and to send back-up quickly and safely if required, and will
reduce unnecessary calls to the control
rooms. Superintendent
Bob Pacey said: “Thank you to all officers who are now completing these
updates using their radios. This is now a requirement Force-wide and will
help provide better support to your colleagues, as well as to the industry
and passengers. “Anecdotally,
this is already making an impact in the control rooms.
“At the end
of the month, we will be able to access the data that shows us how many
officers are conducting the operational updates on each Area, and we will
be feeding this back to Area Commanders.” If you are
having trouble completing the status updates on your radio, please
contact Command and
Control. Officers
should also use their radios to book on and off duty, if they do not have
access to a desktop computer. Please be aware that if your shift is more
than eight hours, this cannot yet be done via your radio until Command and
Control is rectified to achieve this, and you will need to book on and off
using a desktop computer, or via the Control
Rooms. SAME
AGM
BTP’s
Support Association for Minority Ethnic staff (SAME) will host its next
annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday 20 March at the Marriot Hotel in
SAME have
modified the format of this year’s AGM and will dedicate the majority of
the day to independently facilitated workshops, where BME staff will be
given an opportunity to voice their opinions and any concerns in a
confidential forum. The
findings of the workshops will be collated and it is envisaged that all
attendees will be invited to a follow up event towards the end of the
year, where the findings will be discussed and plans developed to address
the issues raised. SAME Chair
Baseem Akbar said: “All BME employees are welcome to take advantage of
this opportunity, irrespective of whether or not they are members of SAME.
“The use of
workshops at this year’s meeting will give BME staff a unique opportunity
to inform BTP of their key concerns and ambitions.
“As a
support organisation dedicated to the service of its members, SAME has
invested considerable time and energy into this event and obtained the
full backing of Chief Constable Ian Johnston and Director of Human
Resources Linda Scott, as well as the Force’s lead on Diversity, Deputy
Chief Constable Andrew Trotter. “It has
also been negotiated and generously agreed that where possible, employees
will be released from their normal duties to
attend.”
The Force
Diversity team has kindly agreed to assist SAME with the administration of
this event, so if you haven’t already received your joining instructions,
you should receive them shortly. If you
would like to attend the AGM and have not registered already, or if you
have any queries or require additional information about the AGM, then
please email SAME or call SAME General
Secretary Gerry Brown on 0207 918 8998.
|
