Norma Graham Chief Constable - Q&A

Guest speaker was the Chief Constable of Fife Constabulary. In June 2008 Norma Graham at the age of only 45, was promoted from number two at Fife Constabulary to take the reigns of the country's fifth largest police force.

Mrs Graham had been deputy chief constable of Fife Constabulary since November 2005 having held a similar post in Central Scotland since 2002. She began her career in Musselburgh as a poilce cadet with Lothian and Borders Police.  She carried out several uniform and CID roles, rising to become head of the force's drug squad and in charge of policy matters.

The Chief Constable gave assurances that Fife is a very safe place to live. "Over the last three years we have probably seen more dramatic reduction in crime and the most proactive approach to crime than many other places in Scotland. In this current year there was a drop of 16% in the number of crimes reported to us. The reality of that is far less people who have had their lives affected negatively."

The rest of Scotland only dropped 8% in reported crimes so Fife's improvement was twice as good as other places. It happens she claimed through a concentrated effort to do it. "We have become better at using the intelligence. It needs police officers who understand their community to share intelligence and use it wisely."

Fife has also had a 13.5% reduction in violent crime and a 20%+ reduction in crimes of vandalism.

Norma Graham pictured with President Neil Spriddle, Janet Lowe President of Carnegie Club and VP George