Public focused contact management

Adam Flack, Contact and Control Room (CCR) Tutor, Norfolk Constabulary: Every day, it’s different. You never know what’s coming in on that phone call. If you’re taking calls that day, you know, it could be that you’re just giving a bit of advice, a bit of support to someone. It could be that you’ve got someone in a real-world crisis. 

You’re their first point of contact, they’ve called you out of desperation, out of need, and your actions as a call handler really do guide what happens next. You’ve got to be able to listen, for starters. You’ve got to hear what someone’s saying. You’ve got to be compassionate with them as well. 

You know, people often phone when they’re scared and having a calm persona, being able to reassure them that help’s on the way or, you know, that we are dealing with whatever the reason is that they’re calling us for. Sometimes you need to be able to take control because people in crisis, in panic, they’re reaching out for someone to help them.

Often, they need someone to take control and you can do that sometimes, whilst bearing in mind that, you know, people don’t call us because they're having a good day. People call us generally because things are going wrong or they need help, and it’s nice to be a part of that system of actually getting someone the help that they need. 

Superintendent Jason Broome, Head of CCR, Norfolk Constabulary: The control room is the single point of contact for the vast majority of the public needing policing service. But we also know that many people contact police and don’t require a deployment.

And therefore their only experience with policing, perhaps in the last ten years, is that one interaction, and it starts in the CCR. It starts with our empathy, our understanding, our professionalism, our kindness and our ability to get it right every time, which is increasingly difficult because of the complexity and the volume and the challenges that we face.

And flowing from that one interaction, you know that people are kept safe if we’re deploying. If the risk assessment is done right, if you deploy the right expertise and get there on time, then the bit that follows that is, nine times out of ten, really, really good as well.

And that’s the journey we’re taking the victim, the member of the public, on is how to get the best outcome for them.

Adam Flack, CCR Tutor, Norfolk Constabulary: If we're inefficient here then how can the officers on the ground be efficient? Because we’re fielding the calls that are coming in, we’re processing the information that’s coming in, we’re collating information that’s coming in.

So we really have that overarching control of what’s happening out within Norfolk, within the boundaries. You know, the officers need to know what they’re going to, why they’re going to it and they need to know that we’re doing it in a logical way, and in a safe way for them and for the members of the public.

PC Matt Vass, Patrol Police Constable, Norfolk Constabulary: If the caller has had a good interaction with the control room, it definitely makes a difference for when we respond. Generally, we’ll come to a much more pleasant individual who’s more engaging and willing to work with us. And speaking with them honestly about what they can expect from the police is important, about trying to regain trust in the police.

But I’d like to think that the control room do their best to try and understand that caller’s needs and respond to it appropriately. But it definitely does make a vast difference to us.

Martin Potter, CCR Supervisor, Norfolk Constabulary: It’s about managing the caller’s expectations to understand that if there is a crime in progress or there’s a life at risk, that we will get there and deal with it. And that actually that if something has been THRIVEd [threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability, engagement] and there is less risk to it, that we can give them a timescale and say, ‘We’ll be there within 24 hours.’ And as long as they understand that and they are comfortable with that, it will give them the confidence that we’ll arrive when we say we will. 

Rosie Ryan, CCR Switchboard Agent, Norfolk Constabulary: You never know what you’re going to get. Every day is completely different. There’s always situations that come up that you’ve never heard of before. And it’s interesting to learn from them and know what you can do further if you do get another call like that.

The most exciting thing is talking to different members of the public and I’m quite keen in wanting to help and advise them further in the best way that I can.