Community Policing
Call Handling
The UK police service currently receives 80 million calls for assistance from the public annually. The effective handling of these calls is critical to resolving the incidents and to managing the relationship with the public.
National Policing Improvement Agency
Since April 2007, the National Policing Improvement Agency has become responsible for operational delivery of this policy area.
National Call Handling Standards
The Association of Chief Police Officers initiated a project to create National Call Handling Standards, which have now been implemented across forces. The standards exist to improve the way the police deal with both emergency and non-emergency telephone calls from the public. They set out common definitions for emergency calls and for call grading. This supports consistency and comparability between forces.
All forces are subject to the response times set out within the standards. These will be reported on as part of any forces inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
Read the National Call Handling Standards report (new window) on the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) website
National Contact Management Programme
The National Contact Management Project brings together the existing work of the National Call Handling Standards and the National Standard for Incident Recording. The aim is to ensure that all contact between the police and the public is effectively managed.
The rationalisation of the two programmes into one standard will enhance the value of indicators and data relating to police contact with the public. This will provide increased understanding of demand and effective resolution, whilst giving stakeholders more flexibility in how performance is both measured and communicated.
HMIC Thematic Inspection of Police Contact Management
HMIC's thematic inspection on contact management looked to identify and disseminate good practice amongst forces, challenge barriers and poor performance, and focus specifically on the customer interfaces and levels of public satisfaction.
First Contact
The first phase of the inspection, First Contact was published in November 2005 and focuses on contact management. Read First Contact: Police Contact Management: An HMIC Thematic Report (November 2005) (new window)
Beyond the Call
The second phase of the inspection, Beyond the Call, was published in March 2007 and focuses on incident management. Read Beyond the Call: An HMIC Thematic Report (March 2007) (new window)
