As Deputy Local Area Commander for Policing in East Lothian I would like to take this opportunity to introduce a number of new members of your Community Policing Team, who have taken up their posts over the past few weeks.

Following his positive impact as the Community Sergeant for the Musselburgh, Tranent and Prestonpans policing areas, Sergeant Kenny McKenzie has moved to a new role as temporary Inspector on one of the five response policing teams covering East and Midlothian.

Kenny has been replaced by Sergeant Alan King who has already worked in East Lothian for some time and brings with him significant experience from areas including response policing and major criminal investigations. This comes at a time when the roles of the two Community Sergeants have been restructured whereby Sergeant King will have responsibility for the Community and School Link Officers across East Lothian and Sergeant Rhona Meikle, who was until recently the Community Sergeant for the Haddington, North Berwick and Dunbar areas, has assumed responsibility for the East Lothian Community Action Team (ELCAT) who undertake pro-active policing duties as well as assisting your Community Officers in targeting local priorities.

In Dunbar, Constable Cammy Tait has become the new Licensing Officer for East Lothian and been replaced by PC Laura Jackson as Dunbar Community Officer. PC Jackson has over 20 years’ service having originally joined West Yorkshire Police before transferring to Police Scotland 4 years ago when she began working in East Lothian. She brings with her a wealth of experience including CID, drugs enforcement and robbery investigations and has already begun developing preventative and enforcement activity in her area.

In Haddington, Constable Emma Stewart has transferred to her new role as a Detective Constable within the Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit based at Dalkeith Police Station. She has been replaced as Haddington Community Officer by Constable Stuart Foster, who has worked in East Lothian response policing for some time having previously been based in the City of Edinburgh.

Having initially moved to East Lothian Community Policing in 2019 as the Musselburgh Sector and ELCAT Sergeant, I can personally vouch for the variety and scale of the work undertaken by local officers that often goes unrecognised but nonetheless has a real benefit to residents. I have every confidence that the officers within your Community Policing Team will continue to have a positive impact on their Communities by taking ownership of the priorities identified by Community Councils and raised at their local Community and Police Partnership (CAPP) meetings.