Officers are appealing for the help of the public to trace a 17-year-old teenager reported missing from Peterhead who may have travelled to Edinburgh.
Ethanie Labandia (pictured) was last seen around 8 am in the Skelton Street area of Peterhead yesterday (Monday, 17 April). She did not attend school and has not been seen since.
She is described as around 5ft 2ins, of slim build with long, dark hair. When last seen she was wearing a white shirt and dark trousers.
Sergeant Gary Johnston said: “Ethanie did not attend school as expected and concerns are growing for her welfare. She may have travelled to Edinburgh by bus.
“We are asking anyone who has seen Ethanie or knows where she might be to get in touch. If Ethanie becomes aware of this appeal then I would urge her to call us or get in touch with her family so we know she is safe and well.”
Anyone who can help is asked to call Police Scotland on 101, quoting reference number 1461 of Monday, 17 April, 2023.
*** UPDATE ***
Police Scotland can confirm that Ethanie Labandia (17), reported missing from the Peterhead area, has been traced safe and well.
Police Scotland’s national rollout of the opioid reversal treatment, Naloxone, is reaching officers the length and breadth of the country.
Around 3,000 kits have been issued throughout Edinburgh, Highland and Islands, Dundee and Forth Valley divisions in recent weeks, where operational officers are now being trained and equipped.
The deliveries mark the completion of roll-outs to operational officers up to and including the rank of Inspector in both Highland & Islands and Forth Valley, while officers in Edinburgh, Ayrshire and North East divisions will be supplied with kits for the first time.
Police Scotland successfully piloted the carriage and use of Naloxone by its officers last year as part of a public health approach to addressing the country’s drug death rates, which are the highest in Europe.
Officers in four areas (Falkirk, Grangemouth & Stirling; Dundee City; Glasgow East, Caithness, and local custody suites) began carrying the single use intra-nasal sprays in March 2021.
Since then it has been used in at least 95 incidents by officers, with positive outcomes on all but four occasions. In three of the four incidents, officers suspected the individual was already deceased, however, they administered Naloxone to give the casualty every possible chance at recovery. In the fourth instance the individual did not regain consciousness and later died in hospital.
Nearly 4,000 officers are now both trained and equipped with Naloxone, or are due to undertake online training in the coming weeks.
All operational officers are expected to receive personal issue kits in early 2023. Probationary constables will also be trained in the use of Naloxone during their initial training at Police Scotland Headquarters, Tulliallan.
Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie (Partnerships, Preventions and Community Wellbeing) said: “The national roll-out of Naloxone comes following a robust, independent evaluation of our test of change. As our officers are so often the first on the scene of a critical incident, it is right we equip them with this additional first aid resource, which can be used safely and with no adverse effects.
“We are working closely with partners to ensure adequate expertise is accessible to people who have received Naloxone from our officers. This includes the ambulance service as well as health colleagues who are best placed to provide additional support.
“Our approach to drugs in Scotland remains twofold. We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable people in society in times of crisis, and Naloxone helps us to do this. However, we remain resolutely determined to do all we can to stop illegal drugs reaching our villages, towns and cities in the first place. We continue to use all available resources to bring those involved in serious and organised crime to justice, and to safeguard Scotland’s communities.”
The circumstances in which Naloxone has been administered by Police Scotland officers have included incidents where officers have discovered unconscious casualties while on patrol, or been alerted to an overdose by a member of the public. Other incidents have involved people in police custody, during police public order incidents and the execution of a search warrant. Naloxone has also been administered to people intending to complete suicide.
More information about the carriage of Naloxone by Police Scotland officers can be found here.
Detectives in Edinburgh are appealing for information following a serious assault in the Grassmarket.
The incident happened around 2.20am on Sunday (3rd October), when a 21-year-old man was found injured on the pavement next to the junction of Cowgatehead and Candlemaker Row.
He had sustained a serious head injury and was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh for treatment.
Detective Constable Gary Lipscombe, from Edinburgh CID, said: “This area was extremely busy at the time of the incident and I am appealing to anyone who can help with our enquiries to come forward.
“Likewise, anyone who was driving in the area and may have das-cam footage that could help is asked to get in touch.
“If you have information please contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident 0562 of Sunday, 3 October, or make a call anonymously to the chartity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
Detectives are continuing their enquiries and appealing for any assistance to establish the identity of a young man who was recovered from the Firth of Forth at Burntisland on Friday (19 March).
Around 10.20am on Friday morning, officers were called to the shore near to Aberdour Road, Burntisland where the body of a man had been found in the water. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a full report will be forwarded to the Procurator Fiscal.
The man is described as white, aged in his late teens to early twenties. He is between 5ft 7ins to 5ft 9ins in height of very slim build with short blond to light brown hair. He was wearing grey Lonsdale jogging trousers, a grey hooded ‘Saltrock’ jumper and blue Adidas high-top trainers.
Detective Sergeant Conrad Musgrave from Dunfermline Police Station said: “We are carrying out extensive enquiries to find out who this young man is and trace his family.
“We are also working to establish if he is the same person who we previously appealed for information on, after being seen acting in a concerning manner on the Forth Road Bridge in the early hours of Tuesday, 9 March.
“I would urge anyone who may recognise this description, or who has any information that may assist us to please contact Dunfermline Police Station through 101 quoting reference 0898 of 19 March.”
