Operation Ironworks for Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park has been beset by the entire spectrum of city-born irresponsible, ignorant and anti-social behaviour.

The situation

This sees from wildlife and environmental crime; fights – many vicious; destruction – involving fires; drunken noise disturbance; damage to property,;road safety; and litter in volume.

Behaviour on the land is matched by behaviour on the Loch with yobbish and dangerous use of jet skis and speedboats at once tearing apart the calm and rendering the waters unsafe for other users.

Islands on the loch have been colonised by drunken and sometimes faction-fighting parties with significant damage done to their environments.

The situation is all but out of control. It is damaging the core purpose of the Park, much of which is in Argyll. It is no longer a carefree place for families or for anyone simply wishing for fresh air and tranquillity in a place of outstanding natural beauty.

Operation Ironworks

Now Central, Strathclyde and Tayside Police forces are working together to revive Operation Ironworks. This was introduced as recently as 2008 and, while it was run, had some success.

The three police forces will be be working with the National Park’s Rangers and with Forestry Commission Scotland and the operation is all about high visibility.

Foot and motorcycle patrols will work alongside the Road Policing Unit, the Dog Section and the Underwater Search Unit.

Mobile police offices will be set up at a range of locations and traffic problems will additionally be restricted by the work of community traffic wardens.

Leading Operation Ironworks is Chief Inspector Kevin Findlater who makes it clear that the overriding aim of the operation is to make the National Park a safe, secure and enjoyable environment treated with respect by all who visit it.

The operation starts on Friday 2nd April, geared up to block the expected wave of sporadic vandalism and threat that the Easter emptying of the cities brings. It will focus on areas of scenic beauty like Loch Lomond, Loch Venacher and Loch Earn.

Of course it is, relatively speaking, a minority who behave like this – but it a numerous enough minority and its feral indiscipline has been growing.

The sad irony is that the destruction of such unique places is carried out by those in whose interests they were largely devised in the first instance. These green places exist, in part, to offer the experience of the countryside, of space, of unpolluted air, of peace and of beauty to those who live in crowded cities and in contexts of deprivation.

Operation Ironworks needs to work – and it may need to be a permanent presence rather than a sporadic one. The deterioration of behaviours since its relatively recent last appearance in 2008 underlines that need.