Officers still based in Yell and Whalsay

CONTRARY to a report last week in Shetland News, police officers will continue to be based in Yell and Whalsay. The Unst post is being re-advertised.

On Monday, Shetland area commander Angus MacInnes clarified the situation after Shetland News erroneously reported that there are currently no police officers stationed on the three islands.

In a statement the chief inspector said: “There are three north isles area posts, with the Unst post currently vacant following an officer transfer.

This post has been re-advertised and we are awaiting applicants. Officers remain based in Yell and Whalsay.

“The Yell officer also deals with incidents in Unst as well as working on child protection cases throughout Shetland and the officer based in Whalsay assists with firearms incidents throughout the area command.

“We need to make best use of the resources we have here in Shetland. There are a handful of calls a month in the north isles and around 500 calls in Lerwick, therefore police officers are deployed on the basis of need, in direct response to the shifting demands on policing throughout Shetland.”

He added that police visibility in the remote parts of Shetland would be increased with a newly acquired four-wheel community contact point vehicle.

This community contact point vehicle can also be used as a forward control point when dealing with more serious incidents and will be used to increase visibility in all the remote parts of Shetland.