Strathearn PC Euan Mitchell has teed-off in his new role as dedicated police community engagement officer for the Ryder Cup.
He’s already busy preparing for the international golfing competition, which takes place at Gleneagles next year, and has just set up a feed on social network website Twitter so local people can follow his progress.
PC Mitchell was appointed by Tayside Police to work with locals and event planners to help resolve any issues the 2014 Ryder Cup might throw up for residents.
Throughout the past few weeks, he’s been attending community council and other public meetings to introduce himself to local people and explain what his new role involves, as well as attending planning meetings for the sporting showpiece.
PC Mitchell’s Twitter feed, ‘@RyderCupPC’ has been set up to allow anyone with questions about the contest to air their views. He poses a daily `brainteaser’ question about the Ryder Cup, and golfing in general, for his followers.
He said: “The aim of my role is to do everything possible to make sure the event goes smoothly and impact as little as possible on people living in the area.
“At the moment I’m getting to know all the local community groups and have been going round telling them about the role and raising my profile.
“I’ve also been speaking to local business owners about their impressions of the Ryder Cup.
“At the moment everything is still at the planning stages but that will start to change over the next couple of months.”
About 270,000 people are expected to travel to Strathearn to watch the competition, which takes place over six days next September.
PC Mitchell will be involved in issues such as traffic management and road closures and will feed key information to local people as well as answering their questions about the event.
He adds: “I’m really enjoying my new role and the key thing at the moment is to let people know I am here and they can contact me about any issues they have regarding the Ryder Cup.
“I can then feed that kind of information back into the planning processes and try to limit any inconvenience to people.”
Based in Auchterarder, PC Mitchell has been a key contributor to Tayside Police’s social media usage throughout the last couple of years, with his regular ‘tweets’ about his daily duties.
He can be contacted at Auchterarder Police Station by telephoning the new 101 non-emergency number, by email at euan.mitchell@tayside.pnn.police.uk or on Twitter.
