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Lothian and Borders Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian. The force headquarters are at Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh.

The force currently has around 2,800 Police Officers and 1,300 Support Staff, although recruitment for Police Officers is ongoing throughout 2008.

Personnel
The Force Senior Management Team are as follows:


 * Chief Constable: David Strang QPM BSc MSc
 * Deputy Chief Constable: Tom Halpin QPM
 * Assistant Chief Constable: Bill Skelly BSc MBA
 * Assistant Chief Constable: Fiona Taylor
 * Director of Human Resources: Peter A Thickett BA(Hons) MSC FIPD

History
Lothian and Borders Police was formed on May 16 1975 by an amalgamation of three forces:
 * Berwick, Roxburgh and Selkirk Constabulary
 * Edinburgh City Police
 * The Lothians and Peebles Constabulary

Divisions
The Lothian and Borders Police area stretches from Blackridge in the west to Newcastleton in the south. It is split into four territorial divisions:
 * A Division: City of Edinburgh
 * E Division: East Lothian, Midlothian
 * F Division: West Lothian
 * G Division: Scottish Borders

Non territorial divisions provide more specialist roles to the entire force, and provide administration functions, the operation non territorial divisions are:


 * X Division: Criminal Investigation Department
 * O Division: Specialist Operations
 * P Division: Police Officer Training
 * U Division: IT Branch

A Division
A Division was created in 2002 following the amalgamation of the City of Edinburgh's three previous divisions.

A Division was created to better administer the policing of the City of Edinburgh and its headquarters is St Leonards Police Station.

E Division
E Division covers the area of East Lothian, and Midlothian, and stretches from the Edinburgh City Bypass to Dunbar in the east. The headquarters of E Division is Dalkeith police station.

Police stations in E Division include:

Midlothian: Dalkeith (HQ), Newbattle, Gorebridge, Bonnyrigg, Loanhead, Penicuik.

East Lothian: Musselburgh, Prestonpans, Tranent, Haddington, North Berwick, Dunbar,

F Division
F Division, is situated to the West of Edinburgh and covers from the City boundaries to Fauldhouse in the west. The headquarters is based in Livingston.

The division’s officers are sometimes referred to as “F Troop”, although this is regarded as offensive as “F Troop” was originally a comedy set in the old west of America (first shown September 14, 1965) that followed a group of misfit cavalrymen in the U.S. Army.

G Division
G Division is the largest territorial division in Lothian and Borders Police and covers the Scottish Borders. It is approximately twice the size of all the other divisions combined, and borders England in the South. This is a predominantly rural area featuring rolling country side and isolated population areas. The headquarters are based in Hawick.

Fettesgate
A low point for the force was the Fettesgate scandal in the early 1990s, when confidential documents were stolen from the headquarters building. They have since policed major events like the European summit of December 1992 and the Make Poverty History demonstration in July 2005.

Training
All applicants to the force as with all Scottish Police Forces must attend an initial 15 week basic training course at the Scottish Police College based at Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine on Forth.

This course provides a basic grounding in policing in Scotland.

Following the 15 week course officers are returned to their forces to continue training. After one year in force, officers re-attend the College to complete a further two week course and assessment period. After a further year officers are assessed on their abilities and 'confirmed' in their role should they meet the required standard. Training from initial course to confirmation takes a minimum of two years.

Officers transferring from other Scottish forces are not required to attend the college, unlike those transferring from the rest of the United Kingdom, who are required to attend a shortened course to learn Scottish Law due to legal differences.