Saturday, February 26, 2011

Labour Councillor Stephen Curran displays serious lack of judgement over new police HQ, trying to boost his political C.V. for Holyrood













Dear All

The new single Scottish National Police Force.

It is time for the Scottish Government to get off the fence and declare publicly that this change is happening.

Let’s end the speculation and get into details.

The upshot of the delay is that the Labour Party at it again, it wants white elephant projects for the sake of it.

This has lead to Government Minister demanding that plans for new headquarters for Scotland’s largest police force be shelved.

The chairman of Strathclyde Police’s governing body is Labour Councillor of shame Stephen Curran, who is a candidate in the Glasgow Southside seat for Holyrood.

He will want to spend public money so he can add this to his political C.V, and if it is a mess, he will simply step back and blame someone else.

Blame uncertainty on the part of the Scottish Government.

He ‘wants his cake and eat it’.

The intervention comes as there is cross-party disquiet within Strathclyde Police Authority over the proposed move and the decision to invest £350,000 on top of £650,000 already spent on a detailed business plan for the project.

Labour loves pouring money at projects without intellectual rigour, money isn’t the solution, calling a halt is, everyone knows that of the options on the table, the single force is the preferred option.

If Labour Councillor Stephen Curran can’t see that it demonstrates a serious lack of political and professional judgement.

The new building is said to be sited on a brownfield site close to the epicentre of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

As well as that the Labour controlled Police Authority has been spending money like it is going out of fashion in a new police office in Renfrew, new cells at Kilmarnock and a new facility in Drumchapel, Glasgow.

Senior force insiders accuse the Scottish Government of interfering in operational policing matters.

They say it is down to Chief Constable Steve House and his authority to decide on whether a new HQ is right for the west of Scotland.

At the present time and considering the financial situation, it is also right that those making these decisions should also show some kind of initiative and forward thinking.

A police source said:


“The reason we’re going for a new HQ is that it makes operational sense and it’s the chief constable who decides on what makes operational sense. If we want policing to be the best it can be it needs the best facilities and that isn’t Pitt Street.”

You will make do with what you have until such time as the Scottish National Police Force comes on line and if Stephen House wants to throw his hat into the ring to be the first Chief Constable of the new national force he’d better start looking to the future.

If he goes ahead with this, I don’t see any point of him applying for the position of Chief Constable, however lesser positions maybe available.

He shouldn’t get involved in Labour Councillor Stephen Curran’s political ambitions for Holyrood.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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