Chief Inspector Stuart Fletcher, Local Area Commander, Scottish Borders

I want to start this week’s column by welcoming PC Ali Whitby to the division, as he takes up the post as wildlife crime co-ordinator for the Lothians and Scottish Borders.

This post is vitally important, particularly within the Borders, given the geographical make-up of our region and the previous officer who held the post, PC Steven Irvine, did a terrific job of working with our communities and key partners to tackle and address wildlife crime.

Ali has a decade of experience within policing, and I am confident he will bring professionalism, dedication, and enthusiasm to the role.

He is currently in the process of liaising with local policing teams across our division to identify Wildlife Crime Single Points of Contacts (SPOCs) who he can regularly liaise with to identify where and when wildlife crime is occurring and respond appropriately.

In doing so, Ali will be able to allow his colleagues to focus on other policing priorities, while he ensures that any wildlife offences occurring are treated with the importance they deserve and investigated accordingly. Welcome aboard, Ali.

As hard as it may be to believe, we are now halfway through October and while I will refrain from mentioning Christmas at this time, it’s now an opportune occasion to discuss Bonfire Night.

Within the Borders, the overwhelming majority of our communities enjoy Bonfire Night safely and responsibly and while our officers have never been targeted or subject to the attacks, like our colleagues in other areas, we must be able to respond and support our officers, accordingly, should such incidents occur.

As has been the case over the last few years, local policing teams throughout Scotland can be augmented with additional resource from Public Order Units in the event of significant levels of crime taking place.

This has been a welcomed enhancement to the resources available to us and sends a clear message that violence and disorder involving fireworks will not be tolerated.

Attacks on police and other emergency service workers are entirely unacceptable.

Please help us keep Bonfire Night safe and enjoyable for everyone by behaving responsibly when in possession of fireworks and reporting any information you have in relation to planned Bonfire Night criminality within your community.