SAFETY concerns have been raised following a decision to change the way events are policed locally.
Police chiefs recently contacted the organisers of Annan Riding of the Marches, among others in this region, to inform them they had been reviewing policing at such events – and there may be less officers in attendance in future.
It caused huge consternation, with Dumfriesshire MSP Oliver Mundell getting involved and raising it at the Scottish Parliament, as reported last week.
And now A/Superintendent Jim McMillan has spoken directly with RoM convenor Stuart Thompson, who shared his committee’s disappointment at the move and warned of the possible impact it could have.
Stuart said: “What was very disappointing was this discussion was a desktop exercise with no consultation with any of the groups involved.”
He is especially concerned about the knock on effect with insurance and road closures, which are usually manned by the police.
“Without police presence how are we meant to march up a street? it’s the police who stop the traffic.” he added.
“Riding of the Marches has been going annually since 1947 and we’ve always had a tremendous police support – we want that to continue.
“It came as a big blow to us and without that police presence it will make it extremely difficult.”
In his original letter, A/Superintendent McMillan said: “I have identified that Dumfries and Galloway Police Division have so far deployed to over 100 events in 2024, and it is clear from my review there are opportunities to reduce the level of police resource required and ensure the policing plan implemented, and resources deployed is aligned to threat and risk.
“Going forward, once we are notified that an event is taking place, we will carry out a risk assessment, which will inform the event classification, and whether police officers should be in attendance at the event, by considering the scale of the event, media interest, crowd demographic, and additional factors.”
He noted that “on occasion” staff are deployed to low risk events where event safety “should be the responsibility of the event organiser or contractor such as traffic management, stewarding, first-aid, local communications, and decision making”
And he added: “From 2025, I have instructed that all local events are appropriately risk assessed and that we step away from legacy roles and responsibilities.
“This will ultimately see a potential reduction or withdrawal of police officers at local events.”
