NEW Community Inspector Gavin Cameron has been settling in to his new job and is committed to working with his teams in the three local wards with the aim of making the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area a better place to live and work in.

He plans to build on the good work already done by his predecessor Ian Stephen and the three teams under Community Sergeant Cain McIntyre.

Inspector Cameron took over at Cowdenbeath Police Station on February 27 and so far has been busy getting to know council staff, councillors and local voluntary groups and members of the community in the Lochs; Cowdenbeath; and Lochgelly and Cardenden wards covered by the Brunton House police station.

Born in Dunfermline, Inspector Cameron joined Lothians and Borders Police in 1993 and worked in a variety of roles in both West and Mid Lothian.

When Police Scotland was formed, in April 2013, he transferred to the Operational Support Division, based in Stirling, where he assisted by providing support to to local policing divisions across the country.

In January 2016 he was posted to Dunfermline where he undertook the role of Response Inspector, assuming responsibility for a team of officers across P Division. Being originally from Fife, this gave him the opportunity to work in his local community.

He told the Times: "I am really looking forward to my new role working with people in the Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and Cardenden areas, along with Kelty and Benarty.

"A recent Police Scotland survey called Your View Counts, highlighted Anti-Social Behaviour, Road Safety/Road Crime and Drug Alcohol Abuse as the issues that people want tackled locally.

"I am keen to engage with as many members of the local community, business community, voluntary organisations and local councillors to find out if these views are reflected here and identify what they see as the main problems in the area.

"I want the community teams in Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and Cardenden and the Lochs wards to fully engage with the public and work in partnership to tackle the problems people see as priorities."

He added: "I have already met a number of local councillors and members of the Area Safer Communities Group and was impressed by their commitment, enthusiasm and drive to make the Cowdenbeath area a great place to live and work in.

"I know that there are many more voluntary groups doing a lot of good things in the Crossgates, Kelty, Cowdenbeath, Lumphinnans, Lochgelly, Benarty and Cardenden areas and building on the strong community spirit in the areas. I am keen to meet as many as these groups in the coming weeks.

"I want to build on the successes of the community police teams, however, we cannot do this alone and need the public to work with us to make the area a safer place in which to live and work."

He stressed that he wanted to reach out to people and groups from right across the broad and diverse communities in this area and get their views on the things that they feel need to be tackled.

Meanwhile the Community Inspector wants to encourage people in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area to get involved in the consultation around the Policing 2026 Strategy which commenced at the end of February. Police Scotland wants views of the public and their own staff on the draft proposals (see separate article).