STYLE mile shoplifters will be targeted as a key priority for Glasgow city centre’s new top cop.

Chief Inspector Brian Gibson has recently taken over at Stewart Street as the city’s area commander following the departure of his colleague Chief Inspector Mark Sutherland in the summer.

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With more than 25 years of experience as a police officer, Mr Gibson is ready for his new challenge to tackle crime in one of Scotland’s busiest beats.

But he believes that shoplifting is one of the issues his officers will have to look at especially in the run up to Christmas.

He said: “With such high quality shopping within Glasgow, shoplifting is a major issue.

“Everywhere in the country, no doubt to a degree, suffers shoplifting but we have people who come in and do it for numerous reasons including organised crime.”

He added: “We also have issues with regards to break-ins, and we have violence and disorder unfortunately around the use of the night time economy.

“When you put large volumes of people together with drink unfortunately sometimes you have negative results.

“And that requires us to ensure it is proactively policed and intensely policed so we can prevent as much as possible.”

In his varied career, Mr Gibson, who started with Strathclyde Police as a PC in the former Orkney Street police station in Govan, has taken on roles including Chief Inspector of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre and investigating officer within the complaints and discipline department.

Recently he was area commander in Pollok but the challenges of the South Side area are very different to his city centre beat.

He said: “I have had a fantastic career, I have still got a fair bit to do.

“It is a great job. My career record is there, the things you get to do within the police from dealing with serious and organised crime at the detection end through to working with the Scottish Business Resilience Centre.”

He added: “The challenges are the city centre is such a varied community. We have a residential community, perhaps not as big but certainly growing. We also have that very large commercial community.

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“There is a night time economy which is well used. A number of high class quality hotels and people coming to visit from all over the world.

“You have that whole requirement of keeping people safe and protecting the public within a strange group.”

He continued: “It is a vibrant economy and nightlife but it is also a place where people can become vulnerable through where they place themselves through alcohol or drug misuse.

“Or being unaware of where they are in the city so we just need to make sure it is properly policed to take all these different communities into account.”

Perhaps his biggest challenge in his new role will, however, be the sheer volume of calls that his officers have to deal with as he explained.

He said: “My typical day starts very early. I am usually in the office for the back of 6’oclock to review the overnight calls simply because of the volume here.

“During the week, we can get 100 calls a night. It is not uncommon over the course of the weekend to have 400 calls.

“You have to identify from them the ones that are concern to us.

“By 8am, I am already planning how to utilise our resources. This ensures we are dealing with any crimes that are outstanding and the communities are protected.

“Thereafter we need to look at the crime patterns and whether there is anything we need to do.”

That challenge, however, will not be his alone to deal with. For the officers who regularly take to the streets will deal with these issues on a daily basis – and he is more than happy his team can handle it.

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He said: “I have got a fantastic policing team who know the city really well, who are very activity aware of the need to engage with those communities who are slightly different. I have very supportive agencies who work in the city as well.

“There is absolutely no doubt because of the nature of Glasgow city centre, there is a focus on it. People are very interested in what you are doing.”