Five police call centres across Lancashire to be closed (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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Five police call centres across Lancashire to be closed
6:00pm Thursday 23rd August 2012 in North Lancashire news
By Vanessa Cornall, Crime reporter
FIVE emergency police contact centres marking the first point of contact for all calls from the public are to be closed and replaced with a single centre.
Lancashire Police currently operates six call centres across the county at police stations in Preston, Hutton, Blackpool, Blackburn, Burnley and Lancaster.
But as pressure builds to meet the £43m spending cuts imposed by the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, police chiefs have decided to close the district centres in favour of a single venue based at Lancashire Constabulary’s headquarters in Hutton.
Police chiefs said they had already been operating ‘virtually’ on one room, so that calls could go anywhere across the county.
As well as being cost effective, it is thought the change will actually increase staff resilience.
Around 29 jobs will be affected, as the number of contact centre advisers falls from 315 to 295 and the number of team leaders falls from 26 to nine.
However, police chiefs said no redundancies would be made as they have decided not to fill current vacancies.
Fears the move would be complicated with staff have a lack of local knowledge have also been rubbished with claims up-to-date technology can see exactly where people are calling from and will enable the nearest patrol to attend.
Acting Assistant Chief Constable Tim Jacques said the move would save “millions” of pounds and would be introduced over the next 12 months.
He said: “I would reassure people that this change will in no way affect the service that people receive. Our contact centre advisors will be able to see exactly where people are calling from and using Automated Resource Location System they will be able to see which patrol is closest and therefore get a patrol out to the incident as quickly as possible.
“Ultimately what this should allow us to do, is deliver the service in a much more efficient way, making the service better whilst saving money.”
The changes are to be implemented by March.
Comments(11)
accy lad and proud
says...
7:39pm Thu 23 Aug 12
David Whipp
says...
7:46pm Thu 23 Aug 12
As a police authority member for 10 years who specialised in police communications, I learnt a lot about how crucial contact between residents and the police service is. I'm also aware of how technology can fail to provide the information required at critical times.
The divisionally based call centres do much more than answer calls from the public. They are a key part of the police service team which responds in emergencies and in less urgent cases. They provide crucial information for local police officers.
Over time a centralised service will become staffed mostly by those living locally to it, with a reduction in staff living at the periphery of the policing area. Not only will such police staff become less representative of residents across the county, their personal knowledge will be limited to a much narrower geographical area.
This is a bad move. Equally regrettable is that a decision on this appears to have been taken without any consultation with residents or representatives across Lancashire Constabulary's area.
alf-abett
says...
8:35pm Thu 23 Aug 12
accy lad and proud wrote:Theme tune from Z Cars or better still, theme tune from the Benny Hill Show..
I wonder what music they will play whilst you are awaiting your call to be answered ?
mavrick
says...
8:37pm Thu 23 Aug 12
RUinsane
says...
8:42pm Thu 23 Aug 12
accy lad and proud wrote:Gypsies tramps and thieves for anyone in accy, Bronski beat and frankie goes to Hollywood for anyone from Burnley. We are the champions in Blackburn and the hills are alive in Darwen.
I wonder what music they will play whilst you are awaiting your call to be answered ?
Michael@ClitheroeSince58
says...
9:18pm Thu 23 Aug 12
RUinsane
says...
9:37pm Thu 23 Aug 12
halfhearted
says...
8:58am Fri 24 Aug 12
David Whipp wrote:Well as a past member of the Police Authority for the past 10 years,you and the other members have failed the people of Lancashire for all those years.How is it I'm always reading in this newspapers of crackdowns on certain problems.
Creating a centralised call centre based at Hutton is a disaster.
As a police authority member for 10 years who specialised in police communications, I learnt a lot about how crucial contact between residents and the police service is. I'm also aware of how technology can fail to provide the information required at critical times.
The divisionally based call centres do much more than answer calls from the public. They are a key part of the police service team which responds in emergencies and in less urgent cases. They provide crucial information for local police officers.
Over time a centralised service will become staffed mostly by those living locally to it, with a reduction in staff living at the periphery of the policing area. Not only will such police staff become less representative of residents across the county, their personal knowledge will be limited to a much narrower geographical area.
This is a bad move. Equally regrettable is that a decision on this appears to have been taken without any consultation with residents or representatives across Lancashire Constabulary's area.
If the officers had been deployed correctly,and dealt with problems on a day to day basis there would be no need for crackdowns. How is it that many people have aked for the bobby on the beat,staing they never see one,how is it that people state the problem has been going on for some time when being quoted in this paper.
Yourself your fellow members and certain Chief Officers have been letting the people of Lancashire down for years. I would agree with your comments about the current Communication plans are doomed to fail the residents.
Just lump this idea ontop of all the other failed ideas.
frank
says...
8:59am Fri 24 Aug 12
fireonthemountain wrote:you can't beat local knowledge, it makes reporting things so much easier if the person you're speaking to has knowledge of the area. i've spent several minutes on one occaision describing a location. by the time i'd finished , i wished that i'd never bothered.
Pathetic isn't it ?
In 1984 - I was in the old-closed-down- building in the company I used to work for , just checking everything was ok .
Lowerhouse Lane , Rose Grove , Burnley .
Oh - sh*t .
Went to call the Fire Brigade , from a nearby house .
This ended up a six fire engine fire .
And a turntable .
The operator who answered my call was fantastic . Calmed me down - yes I was panicking - knew exactly the location - more than I did and I used to work there !
I opened a door , and something that was just waiting for a bit of oxygen , exploded .
Police were on scene in minutes - closing roads .
Fire Brigade knew the building of old .
Empty - potential target from vandals ,
Local Knowledge is critical .
You might as well outsource it to India .
as said above , may as well outsource to india.
David Whipp
says...
8:17am Sat 25 Aug 12
I agree that the current police authority members should have fought this.
happycyclist says...
6:12pm Thu 23 Aug 12