Command Overview
The Caithness and Sutherland area extends from the Dornoch Firth in the south to the Pentland Firth in the north and encompasses some 7,641 square kilometres and has a population of around 40,000 inhabitants with 19,000 households throughout.
The population is spread across both Counties with the main centres of population being Thurso (largest town in the Northern Constabulary Area), Wick and along the eastern seaboard of Sutherland. There are also thriving communities in the more rural areas of central, west and north Sutherland, Bonar Bridge, Lairg, Lochinver and in East Ross is the historic town of Tain.
Caithness and Sutherland is a vast area with many cultural and geographic differences, including some of Scotland’s most inaccessible mountains and the two large fishing ports of Lochinver and Kinlochbervie. John O’ Groats, in the far north, is also a well-known tourist destination which attracts over 100,000 annual visitors.
2007 saw the introduction of an International Summer Ferry Service between Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands to Scrabster. This has increased not only the usual traffic and transient population but also that of immigration to the area.