I HOPE by now most of you will have seen the announcement that we have launched public consultations to gather the views of the local community on proposals to close police stations in North Berwick, Dunbar and Prestonpans, and relocate officers to Haddington and Tranent.

The reality is that these buildings have been underused for a number of years and it is simply not cost effective, nor is it operationally effective for us to keep them open.

Prestonpans has not been used since the start of 2023, with local officers already working from Tranent.

Under the proposals, the two community officers currently based at North Berwick and Dunbar would relocate to Haddington.

READ MORE: Dunbar, North Berwick and Prestonpans police stations could close

Having been a police officer for over 20 years myself and grown up in a rural community in Cumbria, I am under no illusions that this is both a sad and potentially unpopular move; however, I do want to emphasise the benefits which I believe this will bring.

Like any other service, business or property owner, we need to modernise our buildings for all sorts of reasons and concentrating funds on remaining buildings will allow this to happen, which will in turn allow officers and staff better facilities in which to work and enhance their ability to provide a more efficient and visible service to communities in community spaces which are not restricted by police buildings.

The police buildings across the county are simply not used in the manner for which they were originally built, with redundant cells areas, lack of modern meeting rooms and other space which is desperately in need of modernisation.

I want to make the best use of money, space and ultimately equip my officers with digital devices and transport to be on patrol for longer, be more visible and more accessible to you all.

In order to do this in collaboration, we need to have a conversation through the next few weeks and I would urge you to engage with our consultation process and comment and feedback via our Engagement Hub: consult.scotland.police.uk/strategy-insight-and-innovation/involving-you-in-the-future-of-our-estate

We are absolutely committed to listening to the wider views so we can shape the delivery of policing across East Lothian for the next 20-30 years and I personally am excited about where this will take us in terms of modernising the service.

Since I have been in post, the number of community officers has increased and we now have three school link officers instead of two, and two proactive community teams of four officers instead of one.

I want to continue this work and now need to concentrate on providing the best facilities for my staff whilst seeking more opportunities to engage in communities through the use of a mobile incident van, Coffee with a Cop and other surgery-style initiatives. What I am seeking through consultations is how and where to utilise these initiatives, which is where I believe all of you living in the communities we serve can help me and my teams understand better how this might happen.

The deadline to provide feedback is Friday, September 20, so please take the opportunity to have your say on the future of policing.