Glasgow police chief looks back as Police Scotland turns 10
Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland (Image: Newsquest) WHEN Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland was patrolling the beat on one of Scotland's busiest streets 10 years ago today, he knew that something was about to change forever. He was walking down Princes Street as the clock hit midnight and the new organisation that would unite Scotland's eight regional police forces into a single entity came into existence for the first time.
CS Sutherland said it was a watershed moment for law and order, and although the man who has been Glasgow's top cop for the last two and a half years admits mistakes have been made, he insists Police Scotland[1] has never been in a better - or more informed - position to keep people safe. He said: "It was a decade ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I had been involved in the group that worked on the strategy behind the formation of Police Scotland and I knew it was going to alter how we worked forever, but I was confident it would be a change for the better.
"It has been a quick 10 years, but we've made immense progress. Every department, from community policing right through to the Major Investigations Team that deal with the most serious of crimes, now works closer with each other than ever before. Because of that, and stronger partnership working with key agencies like Glasgow City Council[2], we are more aware of what is going on in our communities and what people expect from us than ever before.
"I would like to think that puts us on a really solid footing to deliver what we need to achieve for the next 10 years."
Glasgow Times: The 47-year-old picked out two moments that he said have been both the most difficult and rewarding of the last decade. He said that the bin lorry crash in 2014, which devastated Glasgow's George Square and claimed the lives of six people, and an arrest in one of the city's most notorious cases both remain fresh in his mind.
CS Sutherland explained: "The arrest of a man who was subsequently charged with the alleged murder of Emma Caldwell was a proud moment for me." Story continues Emma's lifeless body was discovered in April 2005 in woodland 40 miles from where she was last seen in the centre of Glasgow.
Police kept the case open and meticulously worked on it, refusing to give up. Their painstaking efforts eventually saw a man appear in court in February last year charged with her alleged murder. CS Sutherland added: "Emma's death haunted Glasgow and I remember working on the case as a young detective and it was one that stayed with me.
To make an arrest almost 17 years on from when the investigation was launched proved that Police Scotland as an organisation never gives up. No matter how historic the crime[3], a determination always remains to try and bring it to a conclusion. "The police response to the bin lorry crash in George Square also stands out in my mind.
It was a huge operation, right in the heart of the city, and something that united Glasgow in grief. It was an awful day for everyone. Our officers on the scene, just a few weeks before Christmas, had to remain professional and composed in the face of such devastation and loss of life.
"I was very proud of Police Scotland's work on the day and in the weeks that followed but there is a lot that has happened over the last 10 years that I'm very proud of.
Policing is a relentless task, but a rewarding pursuit and it is sad that often some of the force's best achievements come at times of such tragedy."