Police Scotland launch their Operation Respect this festive season.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm Inspector David McAlpine based at Burnet Road Police Station in Inverness Area Command.
00:05 The Stand In initiative for generally that started off in the Inverness City Centre and
00:11 it's a collaboration between a number of multi-agencies.
00:16 Fire and Rescue, Scots Ambulance Service, Highland Council, BID, the third sector parties,
00:24 Street Pastors, Nike's line this year are getting involved which is a great thing to have.
00:30 We are trying to cut down on any antisocial behaviour with the festive period there's
00:34 a lot of parties so we have excessive drinking that can lead to disorder, antisocial behaviour.
00:42 So it's just to try and make sure that everyone has an enjoyable safe experience during the
00:46 festive period and with our partner organisations it's not always a time for joy for people
00:53 so we have for example Nike's line and Street Pastors that can obviously offer help and
00:58 assistance for those who find it a little bit more difficult at this time of year.
01:02 City Centre is going to take a large part of the focus.
01:05 We will be having cycle patrols in other areas so down the Merkinch area, Dalney, Hilton
01:13 we're going to hopefully try and have some cycle patrols just for reassurance and again
01:18 people maybe walking home from a night out if you have that issue it could be police
01:23 in the area just so that if they do have any issues with that they can have some contact
01:28 with them and highlight anything that they need to know.
01:32 I'm Mark Hadfield I'm the operations manager for Inverness Street Pastors.
01:36 And I'm Ross Tiffin and I coordinate patrols.
01:40 We work with all the partner agencies but our aim really over the festive season is
01:45 to keep people safe and feeling comfortable on the streets and to help those who perhaps
01:50 are not in a position to help themselves at that moment.
01:53 I'm Emily Stokes, I'm the chief executive officer of Nike's line.
01:57 So operation respect is really about keeping people safe around the festive period and
02:03 making sure that people know about the support that's available out there.
02:06 For Nike's line it's key that everybody knows that there is support available if
02:11 they're struggling with their mental health, if things become a little bit difficult for
02:15 them around this time of year, if they're anxious, if things just escalate at this time
02:20 of year for them personally or within their family or friends.
02:23 Because it is an extremely difficult time of the year for many people and it's been
02:29 a tough few years as well financially for lots of people so we want people to know that
02:34 we are open, we are there, our check sign is available, we do have appointments for
02:38 face to face or online if that would help or call back.
02:42 So for us it's just important for everyone to know that we're part of this as well
02:46 and we are available.
02:47 My name is Iain Brown, I'm the City and Police Area Leader and this is a really good day
02:52 for us as a country.
02:54 The key is it's all partners coming together to make anyone going out over the Christmas
03:01 period, New Year period safer.
03:03 So parents when they're maybe in their first year, their kids are actually the age they
03:07 can go out, they'll go out knowing fine there's enough people there, enough people
03:12 experts, they'll be safe and will be looked after and they won't get home.
03:16 Why was this operation Respect initiated?
03:20 I think again just because you always feel there's a lot of trouble, always see alcohol
03:25 and drugs etc at this time of year and we know fine it is the busiest time of year.
03:30 Co-ordinations, hospitality, drugs, it's just again it's keeping people safe so they
03:37 can go out and they're not going to expect any trouble, they should go out safe, have
03:41 a really good time.
03:42 It's a TR, it's initially a TR service with the police, psychiatric nurse and paramedic
03:51 and also the street pastors involved and they'll be able to signpost you to the right service
03:57 for any reason.
03:59 All that for instance.
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